You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.
We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.
-
1Can you address the question tag (etymology) somehow?– iBugCommented Nov 29, 2018 at 15:22
-
My guess is it's extremely unlikely anyone could say exactly why the specific word can happens to lack the specific forms infinitive, future tense, participle, imperative, and gerund. Not all defective verbs lack the same forms, anyway, but I suppose at least sometimes the etymological background has something in common with other irregular verbs. For example, I don't hear people saying to be is "defective", but obviously there must be some kind of reason why Anglophones decided that I be a yokel was to be laughed out of (Norman conqueror) court.– FumbleFingersCommented Nov 29, 2018 at 15:34
-
1I think the "could" example in there is confusing/unhelpful. Why say those sentences have the same meaning, when the rest of the sentence explains that they don't always?– 1006aCommented Nov 29, 2018 at 16:43
-
@1006a: I suppose the writer thought it might be even more confusing if he'd dotted the i's and crossed the t's with "I could write and I was able to write could have the same meaning". But even as "standalone" sentences, they might not - they'd both mean exactly the same in the context of a preceding sentence such as I had one big advantage when I started infant's school, but not if preceded by I certainly wouldn't be bored if I had a pen and paper.– FumbleFingersCommented Nov 29, 2018 at 17:24
-
1@rackandboneman: Another verb that can't be "named" that way is to must. Interestingly though, although no-one seems to have a problem with using could as both a present and past tense form, the earlier ELU question Is “must” ever grammatical as a past tense verb? suggests that many native speakers are a bit unsure about must as a past form.– FumbleFingersCommented Dec 1, 2018 at 14:00
|
Show 1 more comment
How to Edit
- Correct minor typos or mistakes
- Clarify meaning without changing it
- Add related resources or links
- Always respect the author’s intent
- Don’t use edits to reply to the author
How to Format
-
create code fences with backticks ` or tildes ~
```
like so
``` -
add language identifier to highlight code
```python
def function(foo):
print(foo)
``` - put returns between paragraphs
- for linebreak add 2 spaces at end
- _italic_ or **bold**
- quote by placing > at start of line
- to make links (use https whenever possible)
<https://example.com>
[example](https://example.com)
<a href="https://example.com">example</a>
How to Tag
A tag is a keyword or label that categorizes your question with other, similar questions. Choose one or more (up to 5) tags that will help answerers to find and interpret your question.
- Review existing tags and read their descriptions to learn when they should be used.
- complete the sentence: my question is about...
- use tags that describe things or concepts that are essential, not incidental to your question
- favor using existing popular tags
- read the descriptions that appear below the tag
If your question is primarily about a topic for which you can't find a tag:
- combine multiple words into single-words with hyphens (e.g. single-word-requests), up to a maximum of 35 characters
- creating new tags is a privilege; if you can't yet create a tag you need, then post this question without it, then ask the community to create it for you