Talk:cannot help but
Latest comment: 2 years ago by Backinstadiums in topic cannot help
redundance[edit]
Can't help but do is sometimes seen, but it is a redundant mixture of two forms, and should be avoided in favor of can't help doing (vs "can't [or cannot] but do") --Backinstadiums (talk) 19:22, 27 July 2021 (UTC)
- The OED notes, cannot is replaced idiomatically by can after a negative expressed or implied. The OED lists four 19c. examples of this construction, including these: Your name shall occur again as little as I can help, in the course of the se pages—Cardinal Newman, 1864; I did not trouble myself more than I could help —C. H. Spurgeon, 1879. Fowler ( 1926) objected to such constructions as illogical, but they are an idiomatic part of English. --Backinstadiums (talk) 15:38, 28 July 2021 (UTC)
Cannot help but probably arose as a blend of cannot help and cannot but; it has the meaning of the first and the syntax of the second https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=cannot --Backinstadiums (talk) 15:43, 28 July 2021 (UTC)