Those two sentences have very different meanings.
I will never be able to lift up a car. So, “I cannot”.
I can (pick up an apple) if I choose.
I can (not pick up an apple) if I choose.
I was paid to mow the lawn. And i got an allowance. I think i forgot about the lawn when i filled out the poll.
I am a scion of generations of Talmudic scholars and reasonably sharp businesspeople. By the time I was old enough to get an allowance (separate from gift money) I was old enough to argue for a written list of responsibilities and chores I was expected to do and the weekly renumeration thereof. Renegotiated annually, and posted in written form on the side of the fridge no less.
I was never able to successfully negotiate for a penalty clause for late payment though I certainly tried!
IMO, the first sentence is ambiguous without any other hints. If you said that out loud, you would need to do something to better indicate what you meant, and that should carry over to the written form: "I can not pick up the apple.
It’s a little like the Buffalo sentence. Technically correct, but the recipient would have to parse out what is really being said. A few pixels of white space doesn’t really provide that help
I received a base allowance to which additional payment was added if I did additional chores.
I said yes to the umbrella in the drink, but -
Me: “Doctor, Doctor, every time I drink something with an umbrella in it, I get a pain in my eye!”
Doctor: …
I agree with you that the space should make a difference. I grew up my whole life reading “cannot” as the only expression of inability. It wasn’t till I got on the internet that I started seeing people put a space in the middle, and I never liked how that looks. I think that should be reserved for the ability to refrain from doing something. Two very different meanings, so it’s better not to confuse them.
That article says “cannot” is preferred for inability, and that “can not” with the space has to be used when the “not” belongs to another phrase. That is quite a difference.
Why is “willnot” not a word?
mmm
I have no idea whether I’ve ever drunk something with an umbrella in it. I don’t remember everything I’ve ever drunk in my life. I’m reasonably certain I’ve never deliberately ordered something because it had an umbrella in it.
Because English was assembled over the course of a thousand years by a people whose main source of clean drinking water was beer.
I must complain about the cumulative survey.
While I stress the the second syllable the second letter is “u” not “a” hence my pronouciation is
Cue MULE a tive
Omni-post for the recent and varied pronunciation polls: I answered some various other / complain options. Because I’m not consistent in my pronunciation, I’ve used most if not all of the various accents or variant pronunciations.
The Welsh placename, for practical purposes, can be pronounced “Llanfairpwllgwyngyll” (same number of syllables as “Philadelphia”) or “Llanfair pi eg,” and everyone will know what you mean.
“Aunt” is one of those words that gets a different pronunciation depending on context:
My sister is my sons’ aunt (with a diphthong - sounds similar to font).
My sons address her as Aunt Sarah (with a short a - sounds like ant).
For 34 years in Texas, plus maybe 5 or 6 years in New England, it was ‘ant’. Since then, hearing the other version, plus some occasional gentle mockery, have made me an ‘ont’ believer.
There are army aunts, harvester aunts, carpenter aunts, and even leaf-cutting aunts in the world…
I hear this in Hugh Lauries’ Bertie Wooster voise. This could almost be a Woodhouse quote.
“applicable” doesn’t need to have any emphasized syllables IMHO.