Is "They cannot seem to understand" proper English?

[thedaveformula]

I've typed the line "They cannot seem to understand the nature of the problem", it rolled off the tongue, but I'm analysing it and I don't see how it can make any sense. Shouldn't it be "It seems they cannot understand ..."

[swedeheart]

Touché, scotman! :-D

[mike11111]

'Is there not a bloody American in the house when you need one;-) ?'
Wash your mouth out! (The offending word is American, not bloody).

[Bambiagain]

No, only a foreigner where I live. And in my opinion, saying "It seems they cannot understand..." tells me that whether they actually do understand or not, it is the perception of the writer that they do not. While "They cannot seem to understand..." tells me that the writer thinks that, despite the fact that they should understand, they are not able (or willing) to do so.

[mike11111]

Just to make you feel at home, Swedeheart.
http://video.google.c...=7053507654251552541#

[swedeheart]

Finally some sense in here, bork bork bork! ;-)

[mike11111]

Thought you might like that. Love the Greta Garbo beret, by the way. Do you vant to be alone?

[swedeheart]

"I vant to be alooohn" yes I do a fantastic impression of that phrase as a matter of fact. Also, I live just a few blocks away from where Greta went to school and about a fifteen minute walk from where she was born, here in Stockholm.

[mike11111]

If I remember rightly, Greta Garbo was a star of the silent film era. When she made her first sound film it was advertised world-wide with the slogan, "Garbo talks!"

[swedeheart]

Sub-entry 2 here is roughly consistent with how I "hear" the phrase 'cannot seem to', except they are giving the carrot cake thieves the benefit of the doubt;-)

...but roughly http://www.oxforddict...s.com/definition/seem

[whiskeryron]

They do not appear to understand.

[thedaveformula]

If we remove 'cannot' and replace it with 'can't'

"They can't seem to understand ..."

I'm *sure* that's in common use....

[boxtops]

You "can't seem" though - this is yet another example of how the English language makes better sense to some of us when it is spoken in a way which is ungrammatically correct!

[MarkRae]

Common usage, certainly, but doesn't mean quite what people think it means...

As has been correctly pointed out, "they cannot seem to understand" means that they are incapable of giving the impression that they understand, not necessarily that they don't actually understand.

That is, if someone tells you something and you nod your head in agreement and don't look baffled, then you "seem" to have understood. Whether you actually have or not is a different matter...

[Quizmonster]

'Cannot seem' is a pair of words which make about as much sense together as 'could of'. People commonly say...and some even write...the latter pair when they mean 'could've', the abbreviated version of 'could have'. They do so for no reason other than that they sound alike.
However, if you actually CONSIDER what 'could of' as used above might possibly mean, you will come up with NOTHING; the phrase is utterly meaningless. Exactly the same applies to 'cannot seem' and it doesn't matter how many millions of people - American or otherwise - use it, it's wrong.

And there I'll leave it. Enough is enough!

[swedeheart]

But... but... but... QM what about above link to Oxford Dictionaries? Sub-entry 2? (Posted at 18.35 Saturday.) Merriam-Webster discusses it in more detail (I have made screen shots as I know from experience that links to Google Books don't always behave the same way in different countries):

http://i54.tinypic.com/24946.png

http://i56.tinypic.com/125gfwj.png

http://i55.tinypic.com/11ltzrt.png

http://i53.tinypic.com/24zw5qw.png

I hope I haven't annoyed you, QM, I was joking when I said "Why should I believe you" et cetera - as indicated by the ;-) << You're my guru in these matters and you're also the man who told the very funny story ending with "Ae toot an' yer oot!" which I still think about oh, once a week or so, and crack up every time:-D I'm just trying to learn here.

[mike11111]

Oh, Hurdy gurdy, bork, bork, bork. Now THAT makes sense!

[Quizmonster]

Of course you haven't annoyed me, SH, and anyway - if you ever feel you OUGHT to annoy me - you should just go ahead and do it!
I've never heard of "negative raising". It appears to be one of those concepts that entered discussion of grammar long after I was being taught the subject. As a result, I still tend to agree with Partridge that what we are dealing with here is "odd" and involves "redundant" word-use.
At least it "does seem" you were right to imagine it was an Americanism! They're welcome to it. I don't believe I have ever heard it.

[swedeheart]

*chuckles at subtle, linguistic Monster jokes* Oh goody, I'll look forward to annoying you over in Phrases & Sayings for many happy years to come, then:-D

[Bbbananas]

My answer may have been the best one after all............ ;-)

[MarkRae]

> an Americanism

Though not nearly such an annoying one as putting "go ahead and" before verbs... ;-)