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Impossible, in a possible sort of way

Michael Bulley wonders about a construction that looks contradictorily tautologous

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2013

Michael Bulley
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Extract

The combination of possibly with can't and couldn't seems to me on the increase. Or perhaps I just notice it more since I've been living in France. For in French there is no direct equivalent of possibly. You have probablement (= probably), but there is no French word *possiblement. What, then, is going on when you find in English, to take a recent example, ‘For all the malfunctions of the past few years, it's assumed the structure of British society can't possibly be refashioned’ (standfirst to an article by Marina Hyde, The Guardian, 7 July 2012)?

Type
Research Article
Information
English Today , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , June 2013 , pp. 63 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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