can (general truths)

Point 154 in the category of MODALITY is defined as:

‘can’ for GENERAL TRUTHS AND TENDENCIES

It cannot be found automatically since it depends on manual interpretation of the usage.  We can attempt a search in corpora to match some of the formal elements found preceding ‘can.’

Some_DD young_JJ people_NN can_VM feel_VVI …
Too_RG much_DA1 work_NN1 can_VM cause_VVI …

We can search for these clusters for some possible examples on iWeb corpus:

_d _j _nn can_v _vvi

1 FEW SIMPLE STEPS CAN HELP 59
2 THIS INFORMATIVE WEBCAST CAN HELP 52

_r _d _nn can_v _vvi

1 HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN SAY 302 (this is a question)

2 BEST THAT MONEY CAN BUY 184

3 HOW MANY ANGELS CAN DANCE 95


4 SO MANY THINGS CAN GO 86

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5 TOO MUCH WATER CAN CAUSE 57
6 TOO MANY THINGS CAN GO 53

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