Canconstructions

Canconstructions are a category of grammatical constructions centered on the English modal auxiliary can. They express ability, possibility, or permission and are a focus of study in modal systems and construction grammar.

The canonical form is can followed by a base verb, as in I can swim. Negation is typically cannot or can't, and questions are formed by subject-auxiliary inversion, as in Can you swim? Beyond the basic form, can-constructions can appear in constructions with be able to, which is used to express past or event-specific ability or to achieve a meaning that can cannot cover in some tenses.

Semantically, can-constructions cover several distinct readings. Ability refers to a person's capacity to perform an action (I can swim). Possibility covers situations where an action is feasible or permissible (This can work). Permission involves allowing someone to perform an action (You can leave now). In some contexts, can also carry epistemic readings, signaling possibility from the speaker’s perspective (This can be true), though such readings are more common in evaluative or contextualized use.

Past tense and aspect distinctions are handled through related forms like could (past ability or polite permission) and be able to in various tenses or perfect aspects. Some cross-linguistic parallels exist, as many languages mark ability, possibility, or permission with dedicated modals or auxiliary constructions.

In linguistic research, canconstructions are examined for syntactic behavior, semantic nuance, and discourse function, often using corpus data and constructionist analyses to map their usage patterns, restrictions, and diachronic changes.