Okay, here's my summary, in which I attempt to evaluate the three forms as succinctly as possible.
"I can not often X" indicates absence of opportunity.
"I often can not X" indicates absence of ability.
"I can often not X" is a non-traditional construction; it will generally only occur in spoken (i.e., non-formal) English, and in contrast to the other two constructions which indicate an absence, it indicates a positive ability to abstain from X.
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branchandroot
concis
Date: 2008-08-08 02:29 pm (UTC)"I can not often X" indicates absence of opportunity.
"I often can not X" indicates absence of ability.
"I can often not X" is a non-traditional construction; it will generally only occur in spoken (i.e., non-formal) English, and in contrast to the other two constructions which indicate an absence, it indicates a positive ability to abstain from X.
Re: concis
Date: 2008-08-08 03:45 pm (UTC)