Shall vs Can - What's the difference?
shall | can |
(modal auxiliary verb, defective)
* 1900 , L. Frank Baum , The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapter 23
(obsolete) To owe.
To know how to; to be able to.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=
, title= May; to be permitted or enabled to.
To be possible, usually with be .
* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
, chapter=5, title= To know.
* ca.1360-1387 , (William Langland), (Piers Plowman)
* ca.1360-1387 , (William Langland), (Piers Plowman)
* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
A more or less cylindrical vessel for liquids, usually of steel or aluminium.
A container used to carry and dispense water for plants (a watering can ).
A tin-plate canister, often cylindrical, for preserved foods such as fruit, meat, or fish.
(US, slang) toilet, bathroom.
(US, slang) buttocks.
(slang) jail or prison.
(slang) headphones.
(obsolete) A drinking cup.
* Tennyson
To preserve, by heating and sealing in a can or jar.
to discard, scrap or terminate (an idea, project, etc.).
To shut up.
(US, euphemistic) To fire or dismiss an employee.
In obsolete terms the difference between shall and can
is that shall is to owe while can is a drinking cup.As verbs the difference between shall and can
is that shall is Used before a verb to indicate the simple future tense, particularly in the first person singular or plural.can is to know how to; to be able to.As a noun can is
a more or less cylindrical vessel for liquids, usually of steel or aluminium.As an abbreviation Can is
an alternative spelling of Can.|lang=en.As an initialism CAN is
the Andean Community of Nations.shall
English
Verb
(wikipedia shall)- I shall sing in the choir tomorrow .
- "My third command to the Winged Monkeys," said Glinda, "shall' be to carry you to your forest. Then, having used up the powers of the Golden Cap, I ' shall give it to the King of the Monkeys, that he and his band may thereafter be free for evermore."
- (determination''): ''You shall go to the ball!
- (obligation''): ''Citizens shall provide proof of identity.
- Shall we go out later?
Usage notes
* Shall'' is about one fourth as common relative to ''will in North America as in the UK. Some in North America may consider it formal or even pompous. * In the past, will'' and ''shall'' have been used similarly as auxiliary verbs for the future tense. The simple future tense traditionally uses ''shall for the first person ("I" and "we"), and will for the second and third persons. *: I shall go. *: You will go. * An emphatic future tense, with a sense of (must), reverses the two words, using will'' for the first person and ''shall for the second and third person. *: I will go. *: You shall go. * Usage can be reversed in questions and in dependent clauses—especially with indirect discourse. For example: Shall''' you do it?'' is equivalent in meaning to '''''Will''' you do it?'' as it anticipates your response ''I '''shall''' do it.'' Or: ''he says that he '''shall''' win'' or ''he expects that he '''shall''' win'' report his saying ''I '''shall''' win'', not ''I '''will win.See also
* ought * shalt * shan't * should * will *Statistics
*can
English
(wikipedia can)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m) (first and third person singular of , Danish (m). More at canny, cunning.Verb
Lee S. Langston, magazine=(American Scientist)
The Adaptable Gas Turbine, passage=Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo'', meaning ''vortex , and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.}}
A Cuckoo in the Nest, passage=The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite.
- I can rimes of Robin Hood.
- I can no Latin, quod she.
- Let the priest in surplice white, / That defunctive music can .
Usage notes
* For missing forms, substitute inflected forms of be able to , as: ** I might be able to go. ** I was able to go yesterday. ** I have been able to go, since I was seven. ** I had been able to go before. ** I will be able to go tomorrow. * The word could also suffices in many tenses. "I would be able to go" is equivalent to "I could go", and "I was unable to go" can be rendered "I could not go". (Unless there is a clear indication otherwise, "could verb''" means "would be able to ''verb''", but "could not ''verb''" means "was/were unable to ''verb ".) * The present tense negative can not'' is often contracted to ''cannot'' or ''can't . * The use of can'' in asking permission sometimes is criticized as being impolite or incorrect by those who favour the more formal alternative ''"may I...?" . * Can'' is sometimes used rhetorically to issue a command, placing the command in the form of a request. For instance, ''"Can you hand me that pen?"'' as a polite substitution for ''"Hand me that pen." * Some US dialects that glottalize the final /t/ in can't'' ( even when stressed.Synonyms
* be able to * mayAntonyms
* cannot * can’tSee also
*Etymology 2
From (etyl) canne, from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- (Shakespeare)
- Fill the cup and fill the can , / Have a rouse before the morn.
Synonyms
* (cylindrical metal container) tinDerived terms
* beer can * can opener * carry the can * garbage can * kick at the can * kick the can / kick-the-can * kick the can down the road * trash canVerb
(cann)- They spent August canning fruit and vegetables.
- He canned the whole project because he thought it would fail.
- Can your gob.
- The boss canned him for speaking out.