What is the difference between dont and wont

Remember that in modern speech and writing, don't cannot be used in the third person singular. Learner's Dictionary mobile search.

Learner's Dictionary. Ask the Editor. Peter Sokolowski , Editor at Large. Difference between "Don't" and "doesn't"? My colleague Kory Stamper , an editor of the Learner's Dictionary, responds: Both don't and doesn't are contractions. Vocabulary Quiz. Take the Quiz ». Name That Thing. Take our visual quiz. Can't I just say "They don't let you smoke here.

I partially disagree with the two other answers as of the time of this writing. This means that the classmates have a general habit of not following the rules. It's form of time-agnostic knowledge; it's possible that you're now attending another school and talking about ex-classmates. This suggests that there exists effort directed towards making the classmates follow rules. The phrasing gives an implication that there's an opposing force that's trying to behave your classmates.

This would imply that the speaker has probably actually tried to smoke once and they didn't let him. You might end up getting the implication that he tried to convince them 'oh, just this one cigarette' , which is the effort we mentioned in our conceptualization. Note: this is a pretty small and nuanced difference; nobody will get confused if you use them interchangeably, but it does come quite naturally for native speakers.

This is localized ; it was probably getting crazy in a room, hall, or some other enclosed 'cozy' place. This is more general and can refer to any type of place that is more likely abstractly-bordered-and-contained than having brick-and-mortar walls; think countries and nations, school campuses, streets, etc. The difference arises when talking about volition. In the first case, you may have been caught smoking and they might decide to let you go.

On the other hand, if it is won't in the example, then you strictly are NOT allowed to smoke. As to your question regarding the usage of in in the sentences; by using in here you have restricted your domain to a particular region. If you just use here instead, then you are referring to nearby areas too. In the first sentence, I am restricting my smoke-free area to the particular room and the people can go outside the room for smoking.

Once you have the meanings down, you will get the usage right every time. Grammarly is a top spelling, grammar and plagiarism checker. It'll help you find and fix errors fast, and it works everywhere.

It's trusted by millions of writers for a reason. The best way to keep commonly confused words separate in your mind is with a better understanding of what they mean. By breaking down the meanings of the words and exploring some example sentences, you will have a better handle on them. Won't is not actually a word in and of itself. It is a contraction of will not. Just like don't and can't are contractions of do not and cannot, won't is a contraction of will not.

However, this can get confusing to American English writers and learners, because won't doesn't look like will not in the way that don't and can't look like do not and cannot.

A closer look at the history of the word makes this clear. So why do we say won't instead of willn't? In Old English, the verb willan, which eventually became will, had two forms. Wil- was the present tense and wol- was the past tense.

I'm utterly convinced that a key element of personal and business success is the ability to differentiate correctly between "I can't" and "I won't. As a rule, when somebody "can't" do something, it's because he or she lacks the skill to do it; when somebody "won't" do something, it's because he or she lacks the will to do it.

Though that distinction seems pretty clear, the losers in this world often say "I can't" when they mean "I won't":. Losers substitute "I can't" for "I won't" because it lets them off the hook.