Both are used, which do we prefer:

  • grep -r 'can not' core/* | wc -l = 36
  • grep -r 'cannot' core/* | wc -l = 459

Comments

Robin Millette’s picture

Robin Millette commented

There's also a "can't" in there (comment.pages.inc).

yesct’s picture

yesct commented

... most should be cannot, unless there is good reason to be can not. :)
or so google says.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-cannot-and-can-no...
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic37357.html

xjm’s picture

xjm
she/her
Primary language English
commented
Priority: Major » Minor

"Cannot" and "can not" do not mean the same things to me. In most cases "cannot" should be used. "Can not" means specifically that you are able to not do something (versus not being able to do something).

tstoeckler’s picture

tstoeckler
he/him
Primary language German
Location Essen, Germany
commented

Re #3: While I think you are correct (I myself am not a native speaker), I think we cannot (no pun intended) assume everyone to grasp that distinction. I think we should rather use the wording you yourself use in #3: "can not" -> "is not able to" (where that is accurate; I assume there are many cases in core where "can not" should actually be "cannot").

xjm’s picture

xjm
she/her
Primary language English
commented

I very highly doubt it was ever intentionally used as two words. Everything listed in the summary should almost certainly be "cannot," which is the point I was making.

bartmcpherson’s picture

bartmcpherson
He/him/his
Primary language English
Location Cleveland
commented

Cannot is the proper usage 95% of the time.
http://www2.gsu.edu/~phltso/grammar&usage.html
http://sun.iwu.edu/~mcriley/paperguide/grammar
http://ask.metafilter.com/6441/Cannot-vs-Can-Not

gábor hojtsy’s picture

gábor hojtsy
he/him
Primary language Hungarian
Location Hungary
commented

/me prefers "can" /me runs away :D

webchick’s picture

webchick
she/they
Primary language English
Location Vancouver 🇨🇦
commented
Title: Decide if we prefer cannot or 'can not' » Decide on a standard English style guide so we can quit making one up ad-hoc in individual issues

Fixed that for you. ;)

Here are some options:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Style_guide

leehunter’s picture

leehunter commented

The guide for interface text prefers "cannot" over "can't" (without mentioning "can not")
https://drupal.org/node/604342

There's also a content style guide which has a (somewhat confusing) array of resources
https://drupal.org/style-guide/content#resources

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smustgrave’s picture

smustgrave commented
Issue summary: View changes
Status: Active » Postponed (maintainer needs more info)
Issue tags: +stale-issue-cleanup

Thank you for creating this issue to improve Drupal.

We are working to decide if this task is still relevant to a currently supported version of Drupal. There hasn't been any discussion here for over 8 years which suggests that this has either been implemented or is no longer relevant. Your thoughts on this will allow a decision to be made.

Since we need more information to move forward with this issue, the status is now Postponed (maintainer needs more info). If we don't receive additional information to help with the issue, it may be closed after three months.

Thanks!

smustgrave’s picture

smustgrave commented
Status: Postponed (maintainer needs more info) » Closed (outdated)

Since there has been no follow up in 3+ months going to close out, but don't worry we can always re-open!

Thanks all

xjm’s picture

xjm
she/her
Primary language English
commented

For what it's worth, the original issue was filed under somewhat mistaken premises. We do (and already did at the time) have American English with the Chicago Manual of Style as our content standard for Drupal.org, and we also apply it to core's default translation and code docs as a best practice.

So "can not" is basically always a second-language speaker or someone from the Commonwealth. ;)

xjm’s picture

xjm
she/her
Primary language English
commented

Retitling this issue to its actual scope, which was far less sweeping than the title indicated.