Cannot or can not?

[BigToque]

If you were making a reference to a particular group of people with mental disabilities, which would be correct?

"advocating for individuals that cannot advocate for themselves"

"advocating for individuals that can not advocate for themselves"

 

[rcpratt]

Cannot.

 

[LookBehindYou]

Cannot.

This. Coming from a high school drop out.

 

[purbeast0]

wtf how is this even a question?

think i learned this in like 3rd grade when i learned contractions.

cannot.

 

[dabuddha]

cantnotdonedoit

 

[BigToque]

When is each supposed to be used?

There's 140 million hits on Google giving a very mixed bag of opinions.

 

[darkewaffle]

I cannot believe you're even asking.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Cannot

 

[Gibson486]

meh, typical ATOT "I am smart" response.

The way you want say it, "cannot" is correct and should be used the majority of the time.

The other way is an indication of an agreement of not doing something....

-Can you not do that?
-Yes, I can "not do that".

That is how I learned it in school.

 

[LTC8K6]

can't

 

[TheNinja]

I would say cannot

 

[rcpratt]

wtf how is this even a question?

think i learned this in like 3rd grade when i learned contractions.

cannot.

Not seeing how this has much at all to do with contractions.

 

[Nik]

Each one has its uses and is correct in certain grammatical situations.

 

[Newbian]

Do or do not. There is no cannot.

 

[allisolm]

I would use cannot. I would also use who rather than that.

 

[Drako]

ain't

 

[RedRooster]

can't

This.

 

[overst33r]

I don't think I've ever seen "can not" be used. I don't think it exists.

 

[Rage187]

cannot

 

[El Guaraguao]

cantnotdonedoit

This.

 

[sdifox]

can not = not a can

 

[Perknose]

I would use cannot. I would also use who rather than that.

?The bolded is the best piece of grammatical advice in this thread! 😉 :thumbsup:

 

[BoomerD]

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/cannot.html

CANNOT/CAN NOT

These two spellings are largely interchangeable, but by far the more common is “cannot” and you should probably use it except when you want to be emphatic: “No, you can not wash the dog in the Maytag.”

 

[Perknose]

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/cannot.html

CANNOT/CAN NOT

These two spellings are largely interchangeable, but by far the more common is “cannot” and you should probably use it except when you want to be emphatic: “No, you can not wash the dog in the Maytag.”

The terms "largely interchangeable" and "should probably" allow me to endorse this answer.

 

[gaidensensei]

Personally, I would only use can't in speech for the sake of brevity. Cannot/can not is an emphasis on making sure your negative association is noted by the person(s) listening to you. So when writing a transcript based on speech, do it word for word.

On paper, I think it's negligible.