Timeline for "can" or "could"- general possibility
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 25, 2023 at 16:41 | comment | added | Mari-Lou A | Will and can can sometimes be used interchangeable but it is misleading for learners to take that guidance as a rule. Compare : "He can't drive his mum's car" and "He won't drive his mum's car" the meanings are very different! The same can be said (will?) if the sentence was positive “He can drive his mum's car” vs “He will drive his mum's car” The first suggests that he has been given permission, while the second could suggest (can, may?) that the person is defying his mother's wish. In any case, neither can nor could are slang. | |
| Oct 25, 2023 at 1:03 | comment | added | SomeGuy69 | I get it, you disagree. You're allowed to do that. "Can" and "will" are used interchangeably in common speech. This is a website about learning English, not philosophy. | |
| Oct 24, 2023 at 21:41 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | (And can is not derived from German kann. They are related, but both are derived from the same Proto-Germanic source, not one from the other.) | |
| Oct 24, 2023 at 21:40 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | Using can in the sense ‘is allowed to’ is widely considered to be informal, and using may would be less marked (though some would instead perceive can as neutral and may as formal or old-fashioned). But it’s absolutely not slang by any stretch of the definition of that word. It’s also not a “filling in” for anything, just a core meaning of the word – and of course, it’s not the meaning in the sentence in the question. And there is a world of difference between ‘I can do that’ and ‘I will do that’ – those two aren’t even close in meaning. | |
| Oct 24, 2023 at 1:01 | history | edited | SomeGuy69 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 24, 2023 at 0:28 | comment | added | SomeGuy69 | Sorry if I offended anyone, I know "can" is from old English, likely from the German "kann", not an informal derivation. I was trying to keep this simple-ish as I didn't think this was the place to get too technical. I'm just trying to answer the question in a practical and informative way. Call it slang or don't, but if you find yourself in court, I highly recommend asking "May I approach the bench, your honour?" instead of "Yo, can we talk real quick?" | |
| Oct 24, 2023 at 0:18 | comment | added | Peter Mortensen | Re ""can" ... "could" ... They are both slang terms": Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Modal Verbs | MUST CAN WOULD SHOULD MIGHT WILL COULD SHALL MAY | |
| Oct 24, 2023 at 0:17 | comment | added | Lambie | Slang terms?? No way. Sorry. | |
| S Oct 24, 2023 at 0:06 | review | First answers | |||
| Oct 24, 2023 at 3:40 | |||||
| S Oct 24, 2023 at 0:06 | history | answered | SomeGuy69 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |