5

This can be explained by ..

This could be explained by ..

Are these two interchangeable or do they conform to different situations?

Let's take for example the following two sentences:

All available classification schemes for internet trolls are incomplete. This can (could) be explained by the fact that the species is evolving rapidly.

Will both can and could look OK here?

Community
  • 1
CowperKettle
  • 36,571
  • 17
  • 132
  • 226

1 Answers1

6

Can makes a stronger statement, implying the speaker's belief in the correctness of the given explanation.

Could is much weaker, merely offering up a possibility.

Either one may certainly be used in that example, but there is a definite difference of meaning.

Hellion
  • 18,753
  • 3
  • 49
  • 80
  • 1
    I agree, "could" really says: "It is possible that this is an explanation". Where "can" is much closer to "It is an explanation" – Cruncher Jun 06 '14 at 19:37