"Can not" or "Cannot"?

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Mitch Walker — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 07:28:00 GMT

I know how you love Google as a reference. It quickly turns up these two hits:

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/cannot

http://www.languagehat.com/archives/000876.php

So it looks like the right choice was made. :)

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Don Newman — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 08:06:00 GMT

Now that it is official I will no longer have to avoid that term in error messages.

Proof via googlefight

Rob — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 11:56:00 GMT

"can not"
(7 200 000 results)

versus

cannot
(57 300 000 results)

The winner is: cannot

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Larry Osterman — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 15:42:00 GMT

We've not had Can Not vs Cannot on our team, but I'm glad you finally resolved the "matter" vs "mater" debate in this post :)

Sorry, couldn't resist, it IS a post about spelling after all :)

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Brad Abrams — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 15:50:00 GMT

Ahh - thanks Larry... I should know better than to do a spelling relate post that late a night ;-)
Fixed

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Matt — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 18:46:00 GMT

So what's wrong with "can't" ?

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

John S. — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 18:53:00 GMT

In a similar vein, hopefully someday we'll all get "log in" right as two words. If it were one, the process of gaining access would be loginning after which you would be loginned.

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Jerry Pisk — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 19:10:00 GMT

IIRC "log in" is correct when used as a verb, on a button or as a page title. But not as a label to the field where you're entering your login [name]. And is it log in/out or log on/off? WinXP uses on/off…

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Larry Osterman — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 20:43:00 GMT

Matt, I think the answer is that it's considered bad form to use contractions in error messages.

But I've never really understood it.

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

William D. Bartholomew — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 22:31:00 GMT

According to the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications 3.0 it is Log On and Log Off. Quote:

log on to, log off from, logon (adj)
Use log on to to refer to connecting to a network and log off from (or simply log off) to refer to disconnecting from a network. Do not use log in, login, log onto, log off of, logout, sign off, or sign on. An exception is when other terms are dictated by the interface.

Use logon only as an adjective, as in "logon password," not as a noun.

Correct
You are prompted for your password while logging on.
Reconnect when you log on to the network.
Some networks support this logon feature.
Remember to log off from the network.

Incorrect
You are prompted for your password during logon.
Log in before you start Windows.
Remember to log off of the network.

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Eric Newton — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 22:40:00 GMT

Now thats interesting, posting google results as the deciding factor...

Cannot is a valid word, according to the English dictionary:
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=cannot&x=0&y=0

So I cannot see why its a big issue. I mean come on guys, cannot we all just get along?

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Eric Newton — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 22:46:00 GMT

Microsoft Manual? Log on log off? I cannot see why any of that is important. Cannot or can't? I'm so confused.

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Jerry Pisk — Mon, 05 Jul 2004 11:13:00 GMT

Oh and does anybody actually use "can not"? I don't think I've ever seen it split…

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Mike Scott — Mon, 05 Jul 2004 15:29:00 GMT

What about "oriented", as in "object oriented?" This implies that the root verb is "to orient," when it's actually "to orientate." The term should be "object orientated." If you believe that the root is "orient", then the noun should be "oriention," which I've never heard anyone use. If you're going to use the term "object orientation", then the adjective is obviously "object orientated."

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Christian Romney — Tue, 06 Jul 2004 13:31:00 GMT

What makes you think it's to orientate? That means to turn to the East, as in the Orient. To orient oneself (small 'O') is to familiarize, whereas to be oriented around something is to be centered around it. Object orientation means centered around objects and comes from to orient not to orientate.

Cannot We All Just Get Along...Or Can't We?

Zupancic Perspective — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 10:35:00 GMT

Cannot We All Just Get Along...Or Can't We?

Zupancic Perspective — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 10:53:00 GMT

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Mike Scott — Sat, 10 Jul 2004 10:01:00 GMT

Christian: "orientate" and "orient" both derive from "Orient", which itself derives from the latin "orire" meaning "to rise", i.e. it means where the sun rises or the east. That's not in debate. What is in debate is the correct spelling of the past tense "orientated" or "oriented." If you use the spelling "oriented" then it's also logical that you should use the noun "oriention" rather than "orientation."

While we're at it, how about the verb "to differ" and its derivative forms which are often used inconsistently. For example, "different than ..." is often used, where the correct grammar is "different from ..." Again, a simply examination of the various uses shows that it should be to differ *from*. For example, would you say, "the .Net API differs than the Win32 API" or "the .Net API differs from the Win32 API?" I'm betting it's the second, but do you say "the .Net API is different than the Win32 API" or "the .Net API is different from the Win32 API." Again, the second is correct but I often hear and read the first form, frequently on MSDN <g>.

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Cyrus Najmabadi — Wed, 14 Jul 2004 23:34:00 GMT

Brad: Thanks tons. This issue just came up with us. It was nice to see that there was an official decision on this.

re: "Can not" or "Cannot"?

Marcia Ferreira — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 16:38:00 GMT

> Oh and does anybody actually use "can not"?
You would be surprised, Jerry.

> So I cannot see why its a big issue.
Another issue here: "Its" and "It's" are NOT interchangeable and I see a lot of people using "its" instead of "it's".