Explore Cannot through 10+ example sentences from English, with an explanation of the meaning. Ideal for language learners, writers and word enthusiasts.
Cannot in a sentence
Cannot meaning
- Can not; be unable to (whether due to physical inability, logical impossibility, etc).
- Be forbidden or not permitted to
Using Cannot
- The main meaning on this page is: Can not; be unable to (whether due to physical inability, logical impossibility, etc). | Be forbidden or not permitted to
- In the example corpus, cannot often appears in combinations such as: cannot be, we cannot, they cannot.
Context around Cannot
- Average sentence length in these examples: 24.5 words
- Position in the sentence: 11 start, 8 middle, 1 end
- Sentence types: 20 statements, 0 questions, 0 exclamations
Corpus analysis for Cannot
- In this selection, "cannot" usually appears near the start of the sentence. The average example has 24.5 words, and this corpus slice is mostly made up of statements.
- Around the word, insure, monsters, evolve, say, move and see stand out and add context to how "cannot" is used.
- Recognizable usage signals include a leader cannot be trusted, and i cannot forget, cannot afford and cannot say. That gives this page its own corpus information beyond isolated example sentences.
- By corpus frequency, "cannot" sits close to words such as sent, latest and systems, which helps place it inside the broader word index.
Example types with cannot
The same corpus examples are grouped by length and sentence type, making it easier to see the contexts in which the word appears:
I cannot leave and I cannot forget. (7 words)
She cannot move, she cannot taste, she cannot see. (9 words)
I cannot understand why the Scottish Labour Party cannot see this. (11 words)
He said, “The outgoing administration has been recruiting more people at a time it cannot pay those who are in the service for over 10 months; it cannot pay pensioners, yet it is recruiting more people to add to the burdens of the incoming government. (45 words)
If I may re-word an oft-repeated phrase that has gone viral in the LOL department, here goes: “You cannot say you don’t know how, you cannot say you don’t know where, you cannot say you don’t know who. (43 words)
Meanwhile, Congress has struggled to pass even short-term extensions to the troubled flood insurance program itself, making a worst-case scenario more possible: Louisianans trapped in homes that they cannot insure, cannot sell and cannot safely live in. (39 words)
Example sentences (20)
It cannot be understood by logic; it cannot be transmitted in words; it cannot be explained in writing; it cannot be measured by reason.
If I may re-word an oft-repeated phrase that has gone viral in the LOL department, here goes: “You cannot say you don’t know how, you cannot say you don’t know where, you cannot say you don’t know who.
My argument is that then we cannot kill one another, we cannot do violence to one another, we cannot abandon each other’s lives.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate – we cannot hallow – this ground.
Meanwhile, Congress has struggled to pass even short-term extensions to the troubled flood insurance program itself, making a worst-case scenario more possible: Louisianans trapped in homes that they cannot insure, cannot sell and cannot safely live in.
She cannot move, she cannot taste, she cannot see.
Slashed monsters cannot evolve, cannot attack, and cannot be placed in gyms.
The most relevant part of the statement was, “The scourge of anti-Semitism cannot be ignored, cannot be tolerated, and it cannot be allowed to continue.
They cannot get employment with the State Government, they cannot buy or own property and their children cannot get Government scholarships.
When a leader cannot be trusted, cannot be relied upon, and cannot keep agreements, the people take due cognizance and records of these actions and respond with their votes at the appropriate time.
As alpha-function makes the sense impressions of the emotional experience available for conscious and dream—thought the patient who cannot dream cannot go to sleep and cannot wake up.
The being can either create a stone it cannot lift, or it cannot create a stone it cannot lift.
Biden said, “As hard as it is, we cannot give up on peace, we cannot give up on a two-state solution” and that “the US remains committed to Palestinians’ right to dignity and to self-determination.
He also told them that they cannot remain neutral against injustice: "If we want to be pastors who intercede, we cannot remain neutral before the pain caused by acts of injustice and violence.
He said, “The outgoing administration has been recruiting more people at a time it cannot pay those who are in the service for over 10 months; it cannot pay pensioners, yet it is recruiting more people to add to the burdens of the incoming government.
How can you single out medical doctors to say, ‘Okay, you cannot move around; you cannot choose where to go because the government funded your education.
I cannot leave and I cannot forget.
I cannot understand why the Scottish Labour Party cannot see this.
If others cannot understand that, I cannot change myself,тАЭ he said.
Israel cannot let Hamas get away with what it’s done—cannot allow its leaders or followers to believe that Hamas has won.
Phrases with cannot
These phrases have their own page with example sentences containing the full combination:
Common combinations with cannot
These word pairs occur most frequently in English texts:
- cannot be 111×
- we cannot 37×
- they cannot 34×
- it cannot 29×
- and cannot 24×
- you cannot 20×
- he cannot 12×
- who cannot 9×
- cannot do 8×
- she cannot 8×