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Can vs Whether - What's the difference?

can | whether |

In obsolete terms the difference between can and whether

is that can is a drinking cup while whether is Introducing a direct interrogative question (often with correlative {{term|or) which indicates doubt between alternatives.}.

As a verb 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.

As a pronoun whether is

which of two.

As a conjunction whether is

Introducing a direct interrogative question (often with correlative {{term|or) which indicates doubt between alternatives.}.

can

English

(wikipedia can)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m) (first and third person singular of , Danish (m). More at canny, cunning.

Verb

  • To know how to; to be able to.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Lee S. Langston, magazine=(American Scientist)
    • , title= 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.}}
  • May; to be permitted or enabled to.
  • To be possible, usually with be .
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
    • , chapter=5, title= 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.
  • To know.
  • * ca.1360-1387 , (William Langland), (Piers Plowman)
    • I can rimes of Robin Hood.
  • * ca.1360-1387 , (William Langland), (Piers Plowman)
    • I can no Latin, quod she.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
    • 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 * may
    Antonyms
    * cannot * can’t
    See also
    *

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) canne, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • 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.
    • (Shakespeare)
  • * Tennyson
    • Fill the cup and fill the can , / Have a rouse before the morn.
    Synonyms
    * (cylindrical metal container) tin
    Derived 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 can

    Verb

    (cann)
  • To preserve, by heating and sealing in a can or jar.
    • They spent August canning fruit and vegetables.
  • to discard, scrap or terminate (an idea, project, etc.).
    • He canned the whole project because he thought it would fail.
  • To shut up.
    • Can your gob.
  • (US, euphemistic) To fire or dismiss an employee.
    • The boss canned him for speaking out.

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * * 100 English basic words English auxiliary verbs English defective verbs English irregular verbs 1000 English basic words ----

    whether

    English

    Pronoun

    (English Pronouns)
  • (obsolete) Which of two.
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , Matthew XXVII:
    • The debite answered and sayde unto them: whether of the twayne will ye that I lett loosse unto you?
  • * Bible, Matthew xxi. 31
    • Whether of them twain did the will of his father?

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • (lb)
  • *1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Mark II:
  • *:whether ys it easyer to saye to the sicke of the palsey, thy synnes ar forgeven the: or to saye, aryse, take uppe thy beed and walke?
  • *1616 , (William Shakespeare), (King John) , I.i:
  • *:Whether hadst thou rather be a Faulconbridge, [...] Or the reputed sonne of Cordelion?
  • .
  • :
  • *
  • *:As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish,I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with gentlemen in private life.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2012, date=June 19, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= England 1-0 Ukraine , passage=The incident immediately revived the debate about goal-line technology, with a final decision on whether it is introduced expected to be taken in Zurich on 5 July.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless. One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished.}}
  • ; if, whether or not.
  • :
  • :

    • Usage notes

    * There is some overlap in usage between senses 2 and 3, in that a yes-or-no interrogative content clause can list the two possibilities explicitly in a number of ways:
    Do you know whether he's coming or staying?''
    ''Do you know whether he's coming or not?''
    ''Do you know whether or not he's coming?''
    Further, in the first two of these examples, the "or staying" and "or not" may be added as an afterthought (sometimes indicated in writing with a comma before), such that the ''whether may be uttered in sense 3 and then amended to sense 2. * Sense 4 does not have a counterpart that introduces only a single possibility; *"He's coming, whether you like it" is ungrammatical. * In traditional grammar, the clauses headed by whether'' in senses 2 and 3 are classified as noun clauses, and those headed by ''whether in sense 4 are classified as adverb clauses.

    Related terms

    * whethersoever * either * neither

    Statistics

    * English interrogative pronouns English subordinating conjunctions