1. University of Carabobo
School of Education
Modern Languages Deparment
English Grammar
ESPINOZA MAURICIO
GUTIERREZ JEAN FRANK
ROSENDO WILFREDO
RODRIGUEZ DIANA
July, 2010

2. Ability
E.g. Louis can play soccer as a pro
E.g. Janice can do gymnastics
pretty well
Cannot / Can’t
E.g. Penguins can’t fly

3. Making requests
E.g. Can you close the window, please?
Giving or asking
Permission
E.g. Can I stay up late?
E.g. Yes, you can.

4. In requests, it’s possible to use CAN with “you”
But NO with MAY.
E.g. May you help me (WRONG) E.g. Can you help me
Reported and indirect speech
E.g. Can you pass me the salt Kelsey?= Mark asked Kelsey if she could pass him
the salt

5. Permission
E.g. May I close the door?
Ans- Yes, you may.
Possibility
E.g. Where’s Lee?.
R- I don’t know. He MAY be in
playing in his room.

6. MAYBE + Subject+ verb + C
E.g. MAYBE she’s worried
Subject + MAY BE + verb + C
E.g. She MAY BE worried
Only a Possibility
S + MAY + HAVE + Pp of the verb
E.g. He may have gone home
MAYBE + sub + verb (past) + C
E.g. Maybe he went home

7. E.g. Bob: May I join you? E.g. Yes, you may borrow ouyr bote.
R-S: Bob asked if he might join us. R-S: Ted told me that I might borrow is bote