"We can't command our love, but we can our actions."
This is a quote of Arthur Conan Doyle.
As usual, after modal verb should be a bare infinity. But in this case, It's a noun phrase.
Why can he eliminate the verb after "can"?
I don't know with English structure can explain it.
"We can't command our love, but we can our actions." Why he can eliminate the verb after "can"?
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Responses (1)
A figure of speech is a departure from the normal patterns of language for the purpose of emphasizing something. The simplest figure of speech is the SIMILE. A simile emphasizes a similarity of two things by merely saying it: "You are like a dog", or "You are as a dog". The figure rests entirely on one word.
A METAPHOR emphasizes a similarity of two things by saying they are the same; "You are a dog".
Your example is an ELLIPSIS: a word or phrase is used twice but omitted in one usage. That emphasizes the positive "can".