Used with adverbs: “They are just unable to get the job done.” “She is totally unable to understand what I am saying.” “He is still unable to walk after the accident.” “She is physically unable to do anything after her surgery.”

Both cannot and can’t mean that a person or object does not have the ability to do something. They can also mean that someone does not have permission when can takes the place of may. However, you wouldn’t necessarily use them in the same contexts.

“Cannot” (one word) is the most common expansion of the contraction “can’t.” For example: I cannot do it!

We use Cannot (or Can’t) when we don’t have the ability, the time or the will to do something. For example: I cannot sing. (I do not have the ability or the skill). (I don’t have the time to travel because I am busy working).

Can’t is a contraction of cannot, and it’s best suited for informal writing. In formal writing and where contractions are frowned upon, use cannot. It is possible to write can not, but you generally find it only as part of some other construction, such as “not only . . . but also.”

“Can” and “be able to “ are two different expressions often used to convey a similar meaning, but only one of them has to be used, not both of them together, that is immediately after one another.

Can Yes/No Questions-Answers

HAVE TO / DON’T HAVE TO

• He work in the evening.
• We go shopping.
• My friends get up early.
• Mandy read the instructions.
• You do the project.
• I study for the test.
• They carry the buckets.
• She wash my clothes.

COULD and COULDN’T are the past tense forms of CAN and CAN’T. COULD and COULDN’T refers to ability or inability in the past. We use COULD to mean that we were able to do something in the past. We use COULDN’T to mean that we weren’t able to do something in the past.

Write can/can’t—could/couldn’t in the gaps.

• 1 The clown was very brave . He enter the lion’s cage.
• 2 Liam’s house is too far. We walk there.
• 3 Dad hasn’t got a car. He drive to bus stop.
• 4 Lisa is very stuborn.
• 5 Mum is not young enough.
• 6 The questions were easy.
• 7 I was very late.
• 8 The old man was very poor.

This use of can’t have, which means “You are not allowed to have (written…)” is totally different in meaning from couldn’t have, which is not used for negative permission in the past. Couldn’t have expresses past impossibility of an idea being true.

Couldn-t sentence example

1. “I couldn’t sleep,” she said.
2. I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and dressed.
3. You couldn’t see a thing.
4. “Yes.
5. If he has custody, she couldn’t get the money.
6. They both couldn’t be there all the time.
7. He’s a big horse, but I couldn’t make him carry the two of us in that terrain.

You use could not or couldn’t to indicate that it is not possible that something is true.

Break “couldn’t” down into sounds: [KUUD] + [UHNT] – say it out loud and exaggerate the sounds until you can consistently produce them….Below is the UK transcription for “couldn’t”:

1. Modern IPA: kʉ́dənt.
2. Traditional IPA: ˈkʊdənt.
3. 2 syllables: “KUUD” + “uhnt”

“Couldn’t” is just a contraction of “could not.” They mean the same thing.

or could care less. phrase. If you say that you couldn’t care less about someone or something, you are emphasizing that you are not interested in them or worried about them. You can also say that you could care less, with the same meaning.

COULD and COULDN’T are the past tense forms of CAN and CAN’T. COULD andCOULDN’T refers to ability or inability in the past. We use COULD to mean that we were able to do something in the past.

: can not.