grammaticality - "You just can't" vs. "you can't just "


I'm a bit confused about this. Which expression is correct?



You can't just do that.



or



You just can't do that.



I'm trying to say:



You can't just bash an ideology because of what someone has said/done.




Answer



As with only, one should exercise care in carefully placing just. In your sentence, you want:



  • You can’t bash an ideology just because of what someone has said/done.


Because you want to be perfectly clear that just applies to because.


In the original pair of question, this one:



  • You can’t just do that.


Applies just to do, whereas this one:



  • You just can’t do that.


Applies just to can’t.


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