kimconu
I can’t discriminate, could you give an explanation to me? When does “May” means permission and when does “May” means possibility? For example: 1 You may die. 2 They may go. 3 You may sit. 4 Tom may talk. 5 Tom may come. 6 They may come. 7 Tom may testify. 8 They may leave tomorrow. 9 They may leave. My English is not good! Thank you so much!
2018年2月5日 14:34
解答 · 6
3
This is an impossible question to answer. You need to have some context to know what the speaker intends. If I glance down the list, only number 3 looks like permission. In a formal situation, such as a court hearing, someone in authority could tell another person that they are allowed to sit down by saying "You may sit". None of the others look like natural examples of permission. They are more likely to express possibility e.g. "There's a chance that you'll die". In spite of what grammar books tell you, the use of 'may' for permission is actually fairly rare in modern English. Instead, we use 'can' 'could', be allowed to, or other expressions, such as to 'let someone do something'. The principal function of 'may' in modern English is to express a supposed likelihood. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise.
2018年2月5日
1
I tend to agree with Su Ki. May doesn’t necessarily mean “is permitted to.” That’s what English native speakers are taught in school, probably to contrast the word with “can”, “to be able to”, probably because the two words are used so often interchangeable in the spoken word. “Can he come in now? (is he permitted to?) “Yes, he can come in now?” (He is allowed to come in now.) Native speakers are taught the difference in English classes, but trying to impose grammar rules on native speakers is rather silly, and artificial, unless you want to teach a literary style fit for publishing. The way native speakers speak determines the rules. Not the other way around. Native speakers don’t think about grammar rules when speakering. They go by what sounds right. Non-native speakers need grammar rules as a guideline to contruct sentences and communicate in a foreign language. And that’s fine. It’s serves a useful purpose. There’s probably some source in English that officially sets forth the proper use of words in English, but I don’t know what it is. In my second language, German, we have Duden, which is an authority. What Duden does is give a numbering system like 1,2,3,4 showing various meanings of the words and uses, regional variations, whether the word is considered elevated speech style, colloquial or standard. These differences in meaning and context would be clarified in Duden and show that using a word like may, that can have varying meanings based on context, would resolve any confusion and help people get away from inflexible grammar rules. We probably have something similar for English, but I don’t know what it is.
2018年2月5日
1
You will know the difference because of the context :)
2018年2月5日
Thank you all the same! It's useful to me.
2018年2月7日
還沒找到你要的答案嗎?
寫下你的問題,讓母語者來幫助你!