- Joined
- Jan 13, 2019
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- Taiwan
- Current Location
- Taiwan
I see. No, they are not freely interchangeable.
I reckon only those whose dialects use "can do worse than V," or those who have access to such speakers, could make that assessment.
And it would be validated only if we could produce a scenario where "could do worse than V" and "can do worse than V" are not interchangeable, when both are used to make suggestions.
I don't quite understand the question. Imitation? There's little/no point in analysing these structures out of the context of use.
Is "can do better than V" used to make a suggestion?