Hey Parsar, i ove your work on this "maybe and May be" stuff. What about "Cannot and Can not"?
thanks.
NOT A TEACHER
(1) Thank you for your kind note.
(2) After checking my books, I can report the following to you:
(a) In the United States (and probably in other English-speaking
countries), the usual spelling is definitely "
cannot."
(b) "
can not" is NOT "bad" English, but most (almost all writers)
do not use it nowadays. (P. S. Many years ago, it was spelled
"now-a-days.")
(3) There is only one super rare exception that was pointed out
by Mr. Bryan A. Garner in his
A Dictionary of Modern American
Usage, which many people use as their guide to "good" English.
He says that "can not" is necessary if you ever use it with the
"not only ... but also" combination.
(a) I do not like Mr. Garner's example, so I have made up my
own (terrible) example:
Mona can
not only speak 25 languages
but also play 25 kinds of
sports.
As you can see, "not only" would lose its emphasis if you were
to write: Mona
cannot only speak 25 languages
but also play 25
kinds of sports. (99% of people will never write a sentence like this one
in their whole lives.)
(3) I read that if a professional writer in the United States writes
"can not," his/her editor will usually change it to "cannot."
(4) Nowadays, "can not" looks "funny" because we readers almost
never see it written like that.
(5) I think that most teachers give this advice:
Always write it as "cannot." Someday when you become a
famous writer, then you can write it in any way you wish.
Famous writers can "break" the rules because they know that
they are breaking the rules!!!
Respectfully yours,
James
P.S. I read that some people write "can not" in order to emphasize
the "not":
Tom: I love you. Can I be your boyfriend?
Mona: No, you can
not!!! (Do you "hear" the pause after "can"?)
NEVERTHELESS, I think that most teachers would advise
that Mona say:
No, you
cannot/can't!!!
