I was having some deep thought this morning. In English, certain phrases
only sound "correct" when a contraction is is used.

For example:

"Can't/Don't you see..." sounds correct, but "Can not/do not you see..."
most certainly sounds wrong.

Another example:

"Let's don't..." sounds right, even though it is two contractions in a row,
but "Let us do not..." doesn't sound right at all.

Mike

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Hi, Mike -- on Jun 21 2025 at 10:08, you wrote:

I was having some deep thought this morning. In English, certain
phrases only sound "correct" when a contraction is is used.

"Can't/Don't you see..." sounds correct, but "Can not/do not you
see..." most certainly sounds wrong.

Actually, in formal English the expression would be "Can you not see" -- strange I know, but the verb is "not see" and the contraction to "Can't" really doesn't work if expanded literally! :-)


Cheers... Dallas

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