Could not usage

Question

Hello all,I am not an native english speaker.I have a problem of understanding the usage of could not in below examples.Eg.I could not agree more with you.I could not thank you enough.Could somebody unravel the mystery by splitting these sentence and explain it to me?Thanks in Advance,Rajesh.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Hello all, I am not an native english speaker. I have a problem of understanding the usage of could not ... I could not thank you enough. Could somebody unravel the mystery by splitting these sentence and explain it to me?[/nq]"I could not ... " is the same as "It is impossible for me to ... " The precise meaning is controlled in part by the context. "I could not agree more" says, literally, that more agreement is impossible, so there is 100 percent total agreement between the speaker and the person he is talking to. In "I could not thank you enough," the speaker is literally saying that no matter how much he may be thanking the person he is talking to, that would be an inadequate expression of his gratitude.

Similarly, "I could not ever repay you" is a way of saying that nothing the speaker ever did would be adequate repayment for what the person his is talking to has done for me. "I could not believe it" is usually hyperbole indicating that the speaker was astonished by something that actually happened "I couldn't believe that you knew the answer to that question."

In short, you have to consider the entire sentence. No surprise there, I guess.
A bit of comment on your inquiry: "Unravel the mystery" is a barely acceptable metaphor, if a cliche, but "splitting these sentences" makes no sense. Try "analyzing these sentences." Better yet would be simply "Can someone help me?"

Bob Lieblich
Splitting hairs

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hello all, I am not an native english speaker. I have a problem of understanding the usage of could not in below examples. Eg. I could not agree more with you.[/nq]
I agree with you completely. I am in agreement with every single thing you say. There is no point of difference between us. Your views and mine are 100% the same. Therefore I cannot agree with you any more than I do.
[nq:1]I could not thank you enough.[/nq]
I am so grateful that if I were to thank you every minute from now until the end of my life, it would not be enough to convey the extent of my gratitude. If I recorded my thanks and you played them to yourself in a continuous loop and arranged for the loop to be piped into the container in which your cryogenically frozen body will face eternity, I would still not have said 'thank you' often enough to let you know how deeply grateful I am.

John Dean
Oxford

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Hello all, I am not an native english speaker. I ... mystery by splitting these sentence and explain it to me?[/nq]
[nq:1]"I could not ... " is the same as "It is impossible for me to ... " The precise meaning ... but "splitting these sentences" makes no sense. Try "analyzing these sentences." Better yet would be simply "Can someone help me?"[/nq]
It's this sort of helpful response that led to me last week recommending to a class of very lovely Italian, Spanish and Mexican translators that they try taking language that confuses them to the helpful folk in here. Be gentle if they turn up, people.
Ta
DC

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I have a problem of understanding the usage of could not in belowexamples. Eg. I could not agree more with you. I could not thank you enough.[/nq]
As usual, the reasons for the single word
combine grammar and syntax.
Grammar (clarified by parsing): the sentences
truly mean exactly what they say.
Syntax in the sense of British style, more polite and often more "understated" than American style. British
people often make an affirmative statement include a negation. Americans never do this (so far as
I have heard.)

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]"splitting these sentences" makes no sense. Try "analyzing these sentences."[/nq]
Perhaps the word the OP may have wanted was "parsing". It's related to splitting, I suppose, in a way.

Michael DeBusk, Co-Conspirator to Make the World a Better Place Did he update http://home.earthlink.net/~debu4335/ yet?

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]It's this sort of helpful response that led to me last week recommending to a class of very lovely Italian, Spanish and Mexican translators that they try taking language that confuses them to the helpful folk in here.[/nq]
I'm afraid I'm not as helpful as I could be, but I must admit I learn a great deal when speakers of other-than-English come in here with questions about English. The very act of reading the question and asking it of myself causes a bit of dissociation between my thoughts and my language. Absolutely fascinating state, that.

Michael DeBusk, Co-Conspirator to Make the World a Better Place Did he update http://home.earthlink.net/~debu4335/ yet?

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Syntax in the sense of British style, more polite and often more "understated" than American style. British people often make an affirmative statement include a negation. Americans never do this (so far as I have heard.)[/nq]
I guess I'm a bad American, then, because I do it at times. It's my habit to be more polite and understated than those around me, mostly because I'm so large that if I acted like a normal American I'd be overbearing... perhaps too much to tolerate.
A few years back, a British family who was visiting family in the US came to the Emergency Department. Their son got a fish-hook caught in his hand and they wanted it (the hook, not the hand) removed. As I walked past, the rather exhuberant (OK, manic) young woman working in Registration stopped me, pointed at them, and fairly shouted,

"They're from ENGLAND!"
I looked at them apologetically, bowed slightly, and as warmly as I could, said, "Welcome to America."
She then loudly said, "They don't even have Social SECURITY numbers!"

I calmly responded, "Why would they? They aren't part of our Social Security system. They're part of England's."
Undeterred from her mania, she then said, "They have funny accents!"

I sighed, again looked at them apologetically, and said to her, "They had the language first, dear... it's *we* who have the accents." (Not completely true, but I was determined to refute her somehow. It worked; she finally shut up.)
I walked over to them and whispered, "It's no wonder Brits think Americans are boorish. It's because we are. I'm very sorry."

Of course, they were polite about it. "No, not at all," they said.

Michael DeBusk, Co-Conspirator to Make the World a Better Place Did he update http://home.earthlink.net/~debu4335/ yet?

Could not usage

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