Shall vs. Can

Shallverb

Used before a verb to indicate the simple future tense in the first person singular or plural.

‘I shall sing in the choir tomorrow.’; ‘I hope that we shall win the game.’;

Canverb

To know how to; to be able to.

‘She can speak English, French, and German.’; ‘I can play football.’; ‘Can you remember your fifth birthday?’;

Shallverb

Used similarly to indicate determination or obligation in the second and third persons singular or plural.

‘(determination): You shall go to the ball!’; ‘(obligation): Citizens shall provide proof of identity.’;

Canverb

May; to be permitted or enabled to.

‘You can go outside and play when you're finished with your homework.’; ‘Can I use your pen?’;

Shallverb

Used in questions with the first person singular or plural to suggest a possible future action.

‘Shall I help you with that?’; ‘Shall we go out later?’; ‘Let us examine that, shall we?’;

Canverb

(modal auxiliary verb, defective) To have the potential to; be possible.

‘Can it be Friday already?’; ‘Teenagers can really try their parents' patience.’; ‘Animals can experience emotions.’;

Shallverb

(obsolete) To owe.

Canverb

(auxiliary verb, defective) Used with verbs of perception.

Shallverb

To owe; to be under obligation for.

Canverb

To seal in a can.

‘They canned air to sell as a novelty to tourists.’;

Shallverb

To be obliged; must.

Canverb

To preserve by heating and sealing in a jar or can.

‘They spent August canning fruit and vegetables.’;

Shallverb

As an auxiliary, shall indicates a duty or necessity whose obligation is derived from the person speaking; as, you shall go; he shall go; that is, I order or promise your going. It thus ordinarily expresses, in the second and third persons, a command, a threat, or a promise. If the auxillary be emphasized, the command is made more imperative, the promise or that more positive and sure. It is also employed in the language of prophecy; as, "the day shall come when . . . , " since a promise or threat and an authoritative prophecy nearly coincide in significance. In shall with the first person, the necessity of the action is sometimes implied as residing elsewhere than in the speaker; as, I shall suffer; we shall see; and there is always a less distinct and positive assertion of his volition than is indicated by will. "I shall go" implies nearly a simple futurity; more exactly, a foretelling or an expectation of my going, in which, naturally enough, a certain degree of plan or intention may be included; emphasize the shall, and the event is described as certain to occur, and the expression approximates in meaning to our emphatic "I will go." In a question, the relation of speaker and source of obligation is of course transferred to the person addressed; as, "Shall you go?" (answer, "I shall go"); "Shall he go?" i. e., "Do you require or promise his going?" (answer, "He shall go".) The same relation is transferred to either second or third person in such phrases as "You say, or think, you shall go;" "He says, or thinks, he shall go." After a conditional conjunction (as if, whether) shall is used in all persons to express futurity simply; as, if I, you, or he shall say they are right. Should is everywhere used in the same connection and the same senses as shall, as its imperfect. It also expresses duty or moral obligation; as, he should do it whether he will or not. In the early English, and hence in our English Bible, shall is the auxiliary mainly used, in all the persons, to express simple futurity. (Cf. Will, v. t.) Shall may be used elliptically; thus, with an adverb or other word expressive of motion go may be omitted.

Canverb

To discard, scrap or terminate (an idea, project, etc.).

‘He canned the whole project because he thought it would fail.’;

Canverb

To shut up.

‘Can your gob.’;

Canverb

To fire or dismiss an employee.

‘The boss canned him for speaking out.’;

Cannoun

A more or less cylindrical vessel for liquids, usually of steel or aluminium, but sometimes of plastic, and with a carrying handle over the top.

Cannoun

A container used to carry and dispense water for plants (a watering can).

Cannoun

A tin-plate canister, often cylindrical, for preserved foods such as fruit, meat, or fish.

Cannoun

A chamber pot, now a toilet or lavatory.

‘Shit or get off the can.’; ‘Bob's in the can. You can wait a few minutes or just leave it with me.’;

Cannoun

Buttocks.

Cannoun

(slang) Jail or prison.

‘Bob's in the can. He won't be back for a few years.’;

Cannoun

Headphones.

Cannoun

(archaic) A drinking cup.

Cannoun

(nautical) A cube-shaped buoy or marker used to denote a port-side lateral mark

Cannoun

A chimney pot.

Can

an obs. form of began, imp. & p. p. of Begin, sometimes used in old poetry. [See Gan.]

‘With gentle words he can faile gree.’;

Cannoun

A drinking cup; a vessel for holding liquids.

‘Fill the cup and fill can,Have a rouse before the morn.’;

Cannoun

A vessel or case of tinned iron or of sheet metal, of various forms, but usually cylindrical; as, a can of tomatoes; an oil can; a milk can.

Canverb

To preserve by putting in sealed cans

Canverb

To know; to understand.

‘I can rimes of Rodin Hood.’; ‘I can no Latin, quod she.’; ‘Let the priest in surplice white,That defunctive music can.’;

Canverb

To be able to do; to have power or influence.

‘The will of Him who all things can.’; ‘For what, alas, can these my single arms?’; ‘Mæcænas and Agrippa, who can most with Cæsar.’;

Canverb

To be able; - followed by an infinitive without to; as, I can go, but do not wish to.

‘Yet he could not but acknowledge to himself that there was something calculated to impress awe, . . . in the sudden appearances and vanishings . . . of the masque’; ‘Tom felt that this was a rebuff for him, and could not but understand it as a left-handed hit at his employer.’;

Cannoun

airtight sealed metal container for food or drink or paint etc.

Cannoun

the quantity contained in a can

Cannoun

a buoy with a round bottom and conical top

Cannoun

the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on;

‘he deserves a good kick in the butt’; ‘are you going to sit on your fanny and do nothing?’;

Cannoun

a plumbing fixture for defecation and urination

Cannoun

a room equipped with toilet facilities

Canverb

preserve in a can or tin;

‘tinned foods are not very tasty’;

Canverb

terminate the employment of;

‘The boss fired his secretary today’; ‘The company terminated 25% of its workers’;

Canverb

be able to

‘he can't afford it’; ‘they can run fast’; ‘I could hear footsteps’;

Canverb

be able to through acquired knowledge or skill

‘I can speak Italian’;

Canverb

have the opportunity or possibility to

‘there are many ways holidaymakers can take money abroad’;

Canverb

used to express doubt or surprise about the possibility of something's being the case

‘where can she have gone?’; ‘he can't have finished’;

Canverb

used to indicate that something is typically the case

‘he could be very moody’; ‘antique clocks can seem out of place in modern homes’;

Canverb

be permitted to

‘you can use the phone if you want to’; ‘nobody could legally drink on the premises’;

Canverb

used to request someone to do something

‘can you open the window?’; ‘can't you leave me alone?’;

Canverb

used to make a suggestion or offer

‘we can have another drink if you like’;

Canverb

preserve (food) in a can

‘sardines and anchovies are worth the extra money if canned in olive oil’;

Canverb

dismiss from a job

‘he was canned because of a tiff over promotion’;

Canverb

reject as inadequate

‘they canned the project’;

Cannoun

a cylindrical metal container

‘a can of paint’; ‘a petrol can’;

Cannoun

a small steel or aluminium container in which food or drink is hermetically sealed for storage over long periods

‘a beer can’;

Cannoun

the quantity of food or drink held by a can

‘he drank two cans of lager’;

Cannoun

prison

‘our friends will get a year or two in the can’;

Cannoun

the toilet

‘she walks in and has to use the can’;

Cannoun

headphones.

Cannoun

a woman's breasts.