Cannot change "can not"

Cannot change "can not"

by Leon Stringer -
Number of replies: 3

Moodle contains messages like "You can not enrol yourself in this course". I understood "can not" to be incorrect in this context, it should be "You cannot enrol yourself in this course". The British newspaper The Guardian's style guide seems to agree:

can not, cannot
are not the same: note the difference between “you can not eat if you don’t want to” and “you cannot eat porridge with a knife”

So I started submitting changes in Amos but got the feedback:

When an English language string is changed, it is highlighted as updated for translators to review and check whether their translation needs updating too. To avoid giving translators unnecessary work, we try to only change a language string if it contains an error, or if a rewording makes it much easier to understand.

[…] Otherwise, I think we should avoid only changing "can not" to "cannot" and minimize the number of strings which translators have to review.

It appears that what I'm asserting is incorrect usage should be left unchanged in Moodle's default language because of issues with the translation process. Surely this defeats one of the benefits of language strings.

There's some subjectivity here, and maybe some difference between the Australian English of Moodle and my British English. But to me, messages like the above detract from the polished look of systems such as Moodle.

If the language maintainers read this post: is "can not" usage (mostly) wrong in Moodle? If so is there any way changes to the English language pack could be flagged as minor so that translators didn't get unnecessary notifications?

In reply to Leon Stringer

Re: Cannot change "can not"

by koen roggemans -
Picture of Language pack maintainers
Hi Leon,
Thank you for your concern on this matter.
It is true that minor changes in English are cumbersome for the ±130 translators, because the strings get flagged as outdated. There is no minor change flag. Besides, what is the definition of a minor change? The trick is for the developers to understand this and to make as little mistakes as possible. I know Helen does a lot of language checking for English and she does that really carefully. Style preferences is one thing, but an error is an error and has to be corrected. Period.

As a non native English speaker, I try my best to find an answer to your question. As a language pack maintainer for Dutch, I often wade through style guides, finding myself corrected (and missing it sometimes too). Language is not math - rules are not always straight forward and are often explained by example.

So after some looking around, I think 'can not' is correct in the context you mention. The style guide you refer to is rather short.

I found on https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/vs/cannot-vs-can-not-vs-cant-differences-explained.html a more extended explanation. One portion reads:
You may also see can not when a speaker has the ability not to do something. In these cases, can links to the negative form of an active verb.

If she wants to avoid conflict, Gemma can not address the scandal in her speech tonight.
We can not make an offer if we want to pass on the house.
Maybe I can not worry about this for a few days
You can not enrol yourself in this course -> can links to the negative form of enrol


In reply to koen roggemans

Re: Cannot change "can not"

by John Kuti -

I'm not a translator but a teacher of English for specific purposes. I think Leon is right to suggest a correction to the usage "can not". In my view, in the case where courses are not available for self-enrolment and moodle shows:

You can not enrol yourself in this course.

This is not a good use, because it could imply something like "Enrolment in this course is optional".

The true situation is "You cannot enrol yourself in this course."  We mean "Enrolment in this course requires action by a teacher or administrator"

(I can add that the translation into Russian of this line is already good: It says "Вы не можете записаться на этот курс". In Russian the wrong meaning would have a different word order: "Вы можете не записаться на этот курс" )

In reply to John Kuti

Re: Cannot change "can not"

by Helen Foster -

Thanks everyone for your interest in improving English language strings. smile

As Koen says, errors should be corrected. However, with 'cannot' and 'can not', there are some situations where 'can not' is not actually wrong, it's just that we might prefer 'cannot' from a style perspective.

If there is a particular situation where the use of 'can not' may be misunderstood though, such as 'You can not enrol yourself in this course.' as you explain John, then the string can be changed. Thus, I have changed it in the English fixes (en_fix) language pack.