There cannot continue to be

[Englishaddict]

Hi every one,
This is my first message on the forum. I bumped into the following extract in www.times.co.uk

Clearly there cannot continue to be such huge changes, but demographers make cautious forecasts of increases in life expectancy

What is exactly meant by "there cannot continue to be'. Is it grammatically put correctly or is it just a phrase?

Thanks

 

[Barque]

Welcome to the forum.

What is exactly meant by "there cannot continue to be'.

There cannot continue to be such huge changes = Such huge changes cannot continue happening.

I'm unable to open your link but from the sentence, I believe the writer means "will not" when they say "cannot". Such huge changes will not keep happening.

Is it grammatically put correctly or is it just a phrase?

It's grammatical and normal. I'm not sure what you mean by "just a phrase". Phrases can be grammatical.

I bumped into the following extract in www.times.co.uk

I came across the following sentence/words in ...
I found the following sentence/words in ...

You can only bump into a physical thing.

And you came across the entire article, not just that one sentence that you extracted. The extract is only what you extracted and provided us. I hope you get the difference.

 

[Tarheel]

I disagree with @Barque (slightly). If you say there cannot continue to be such huge changes it's similar to saying no trend lasts forever.

There are limits to everything.

 

[5jj]

There cannot continue to be such huge changes = Such huge changes cannot continue happening.

I'm unable to open your link but from the sentence, I believe the writer means "will not" when they say "cannot". Such huge changes will not keep happening.

'Cannot' seems fine to me. You used it yourself -I've underlined it in your paraphrase.

 

[jutfrank]

I think this may be a question essentially about the use of the existential there-be phrase.

There have been huge changes ... [describing the past]
There will continue to be huge changes ... [predicting the future]

There cannot continue to be such huge changes ... [predicting the future impossibility of the current trend]

I can't open the text as it's behind a paywall. It seems to be about population forecasts. Possibly for China?

 

[Tdol]

There were huge changes in life expectancy, but that pattern cannot continue indefinitely, so demographers feel there may possibly be smaller increases.