My Mom would have said “Yes, Wheeler, you CAN take that cute girl out for a drink. However, she MAY not want to accompany you.” : ) Bless you, Mom. (Proud child of a Grammar Nazi)
People are too free with the Nazi reference. Had any of you been affected by the Nazis as I have you wouldn’t be so quick to use that description. I witness too much apathy regarding grammar and spelling which has been brought about by ”political correctness” and the unwillingness to apply oneself in school. I have noticed that education in general has declined since the mid 60s to the point of high school graduates being functionally illiterate
retired english teacher here and I make typos with the best of them! I love the freedom to just express myself without worrying if a sentence ends with a preposition, or if I decide not to put capitonlization on my i’s, whats it to anyone?if your life is so empty that you have to sit and mock someones comment, then maybe you need to back off of your computer and go get a life!
Well, look, can in the sense of “be permitted” is a natural semantic development. May itself used to mean “be able to” (its nomen agentis is might, and dismay used to mean literally “render powerless”). So the colloquial use of can to mean “be permitted” is a natural development. (Can used to mean “know how to”, cf.canny.
margueritem almost 12 years ago
Yes.
Redhead55 almost 12 years ago
Pretty much.
Happy, happy, happy!!! Premium Member almost 12 years ago
…or spelling…
James Hopkins almost 12 years ago
Looks like they’ve been paying attention to the commentators here.
sandigilbo almost 12 years ago
My own grammar has become lazy from TV & local speech patterns and it bothers me.
LingeeWhiz almost 12 years ago
I don’t know………CAN you take me out for a drink?
T_Lexi almost 12 years ago
My Mom would have said “Yes, Wheeler, you CAN take that cute girl out for a drink. However, she MAY not want to accompany you.” : ) Bless you, Mom. (Proud child of a Grammar Nazi)
c92509 almost 12 years ago
People are too free with the Nazi reference. Had any of you been affected by the Nazis as I have you wouldn’t be so quick to use that description. I witness too much apathy regarding grammar and spelling which has been brought about by ”political correctness” and the unwillingness to apply oneself in school. I have noticed that education in general has declined since the mid 60s to the point of high school graduates being functionally illiterate
pierreandnicole almost 12 years ago
My mom was an English teacher….NIGHTMARE.
Dr_Fogg almost 12 years ago
My 13 year old daughter is practicing to be an editor. nuff said. :-)
Linda Solomon almost 12 years ago
retired english teacher here and I make typos with the best of them! I love the freedom to just express myself without worrying if a sentence ends with a preposition, or if I decide not to put capitonlization on my i’s, whats it to anyone?if your life is so empty that you have to sit and mock someones comment, then maybe you need to back off of your computer and go get a life!
calvinsfriend110 almost 12 years ago
Yep.
badgerexpat almost 12 years ago
Well, look, can in the sense of “be permitted” is a natural semantic development. May itself used to mean “be able to” (its nomen agentis is might, and dismay used to mean literally “render powerless”). So the colloquial use of can to mean “be permitted” is a natural development. (Can used to mean “know how to”, cf.canny.
7afrz6 Premium Member almost 12 years ago
Good thing we all aint English Majors
UlfPeterLangenbach about 5 years ago
No. The grammar is correct here. It’s the senantics that lacks (obsolescent) accuracy.