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  1. double negation - Is "cannot not say" standard English? - English ...

    9 "cannot not say" would only rarely be used in English, and only in very specific circumstances. In particular, this is not a simple double negative. "cannot not" does not mean the same as "can", it …

  2. word choice - "Cannot help but think" vs. "cannot but think" vs ...

    It seems that "cannot help but" was ungrammatical two centuries ago, but it's been in use for the last 100 years, and now appears to be reasonably widely used. See this Google Ngram. So (2) is indeed …

  3. You cannot "eat your cake and have it" or "have your cake and eat it"?

    The irony of the idiom is that one would expect to be able to eat the cake that he or she owned. In that case, possession of the cake would logically come before usage of the cake: You cannot have your …

  4. differences - Get hold of, get ahold of, get a hold of - English ...

    The three variations of this expression exist and are acceptable. The meaning actually depends on what follows of, so get hold/ahold of someone means communicate with/reach someone and get …

  5. "can hardly" vs. "can't hardly" [duplicate] - English Language & Usage ...

    The correct version here in "can hardly". This is what anyone who uses either phrase likely means, at least. While "cannot hardly" is grammatically correct, it is effectively a double negative, and thus its …

  6. Word for something difficult or nearly impossible to achieve

    A ten-percent growth rate is an aspiration Aspirations are typically things that people or organisations want to achieve, think they can, but cannot guarantee that they will. In business it's typically the best …

  7. "Can not" vs. "cannot" - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

    8 Both are acceptable, but cannot is now more common. OED has this much to say about cannot: (ˈkænət) the ordinary modern way of writing can not: see CAN v. Notwithstanding, in some situations …

  8. meaning - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

    Oct 5, 2011 · It is very much a stretch to imagine that don't count means the things don't have the ability to count (themselves?), or that they cannot be enumerated, because another way of saying that …

  9. Meaning in Thoreau's Walden: 'whether it cannot be improved as well …

    My main question refers to [3]: when he says whether it cannot be improved as well as not, does he mean it in the sense of I wonder if it's possible that you just might be able to improve your condition …

  10. Why do they say "may not" for things which people shouldn't do

    Aug 12, 2014 · I have seen in so many place where they would have mentioned "You may not.." etc for the things people shouldn't do. For eg: in companies where USB is not allowed, they will mention like …