On 03/14/2017 09:53 PM, Richard Kenner wrote:
The GCC manual uses "cannot" in most places (280 lines) but there
are a few instances of "can't" (33 lines).
The attached patch replaces the informal "can't" with the former
for consistency.
In my opinion, this is the wrong direction. Contractions are becoming
more acceptable in even more formal writing and there's even a current
US Supreme Court justice who uses them in her opinions.
I certainly don't think it's worth a change to use "can't" throughout,
but I'm not in favor of eliminating it either.
I think for non-native speakers of English, using the full word is
easier to read (you can't take my experience as an example, as I was
exposed to written English 48 years ago).
I think replacing the few instances of can't with cannot is worth the
clarity.
Kind regards,
--
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