Usage Note
Although modals are function words, they nevertheless have a semantic
content.Canandmay,for example, do not mean the same thing.Canindicates
ability, whereasmayindicates permission as well as a conditional future. With
regard to requesting permission, popular usage has largely eliminatedmayand
replaced it withcan.If a student wants permission to use the rest room, he or
she invariably will ask,Can I use the rest roomrather thanMay I use the rest
room.In a department store, clerks will ask,Can I help you,notMay I help you.
Formal standard usage, however, continues to differentiate between these
words, which makes helping students understand the difference a worthwhile
goal. Becausemaycan signify two different meanings, it can lead to ambiguity.
Consider the following sentences:
- Fritz can play the piano.
- Fritz may play the piano.
Sentence 25 signifies Fritz’s ability to play; sentence 26 can be understood
as giving Fritz permission to play, or it can be understood as a comment about
Fritz’s playing the piano at some time in the future. The condition is uncertain.
We easily can imagine this future conditional if we think of Fritz being at a
party. Sentence 27 offers another example ofmayas a future conditional:
- Buggsy may take a trip to Las Vegas next week.
It is worth noting that the past tense form ofmayismight.These words differ
in thatmightsignifies a more uncertain or doubtful future than doesmay.Thus,
the likelihood of Buggsy taking a trip is more uncertain in sentence 28 than it is
in sentence 27:
- Buggsy might take a trip to Las Vegas next week.
Like many other usage distinctions, this one seems to be disappearing. Even
speakers and writers of formal Standard English rarely differentiate the two
forms. However, anyone interested in using language as precisely as possible
will, indeed, differentiate them.
The difference betweenwillandshallis far more complicated, and it, too,
has essentially disappeared in American usage. The traditional distinction
maintains thatshallis used to indicate the simple future in the first person, as in
I shall go to the movies. Shallcannot be used in the second and third persons,
however, but instead must be replaced bywill,as inThey will end the strike
128 CHAPTER 4