May Unit 10 Basic Advanced Basic (Significa 'poder'; negative: may not) 1 Para se pedir permissão, formalmente, usa-se may: May I come in? - Posso entrar? No, you may not. Yes, you may. Informalmente, deve-se usar can nas situações acima. 2 Quando você quiser falar sobre a possibilidade de que algo venha a acontecer, você também usa may: It may rain (Pode chover). I may go there, I am not sure (Talvez eu vá, não tenho certeza). You may want to know more about can & may. exercises Go to unit 11: Might Até agora você aprendeu os seguintes auxiliares: (O que são os verbos auxiliares?) To be Do Can Could Did Will Would Shall Should May Advanced Further information (nível avançado) 1 POSSIBILITY: if something may happen or may be true, there is a possibility that it will happen or be true but this is not certain: I may be late, so start without me. Who knows what will happen. You may even have married by then. It is feared that many workers may lose their jobs this winter. R$ 50 may not be enough. Ian may be able to help. 2 PERMISSION: may I: a) used to ask politely if you can do something: May I speak to you for a moment in private, please? I'd like to open a window, if I may. b) formal - used to say that someone is allowed to do something: Thank you, you may go now. You may start writing now - the examination will finish in three hours. Firearms may be used in an emergency. c) may I say / ask / suggest etc - formal - used to say, ask, or suggest something politely: May I just add that Oliver was a pleasure to work with and will be missed by everyone in the team. 3 may you / he / they etc do sth - formal - used to say that you hope that a particular thing will happen to someone: May both the bride and the groom have long and happy lives. 4 may... but... used to say that although one thing is true, something else which seems very different is also true: He may be lazy, but he can work very hard when he feels like it. You may think you're smart but you don't understand this kind of work at all. -compare might. 5 may well if something may well happen or may well be true, it is fairly likely to happen or be true: These are excellent photographs and we may well be able to use them in our magazine. 6 may as well - spoken - used to say that you will do something that you don't really want to do, because you cannot think of anything better: I may as well go out tonight. There's nothing on television. If you're not going to eat that pizza I may as well throw it out. 7 PURPOSE - formal - used like 'can' after 'so that', to say that someone does something in order to make something else possible: He gave up his life so that we may all live in a free and fair world. - compare might. 8 POSSIBLE TO DO SOMETHING if something may be done, completed etc in a particular way, that is how it is possible to do it: The problem may be solved in a number of ways, but there is only one correct answer. home |