So "can"

I've often punned off of 'can' as the word in English is ambiguous--in Chinese there is "neng" in the sense of (meta)physical cap(possi)ability, and then there is "h


ui" in the sense of know-how, procedural ability. Both can be translated as "can," but of course we can get all deontic:

So when my students are requested to complete the fragment, "In math, I can..." or alternatively "In math, I cannot...." they get all deontic on my ass, with such great ludicrosities as "In math, I cannot divide before I take exponents."