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Can or May.

When to Use Can:

Can is an auxiliary verb (sometimes called a helping verb or a modal verb) and is used to denote physical or mental ability. It derives from the Old English cunnan, which means, “to be able.”

Can you do the salsa?
Can you play basketball?
He can compose entire symphonies in his head.
She can run a five-minute mile.

The traditional rule, as you probably learned in grade school, states that can has to do with physical ability or the capacity to do something, not with permission. As such, all of the above sentences could be rewritten by substituting can with able/capable.

Are you capable of doing the salsa?
Are you able to play basketball?

You probably remember being a young student and asking the question,

Can I go to the bathroom?

Your teacher would invariably correct you by saying,

I don’t know, can you?

This, of course, was an instructional exercise on the part of the teacher, who was attempting to instill the difference between expressing one’s physical ability and a request for permission: the difference between may I vs. can I.

When to Use May:

May is also an auxiliary verb and is used to denote possibility or permission.

There may be a storm tomorrow. (Possibility)
I may attend the festivities this weekend. (Possibility)
You may borrow jacket. (Permission)
If you finish your chores, you may play outside. (Permission)

Going back to our example from above, what your teacher wanted you to ask was the question,

May I go to the bathroom?

This is a request for permission and not a statement of ability.

How to Express the Denial of Permission:

Up until this point, we have focused on the person asking the question and not the person answering. If someone asks you for permission, what is the proper way to respond?

If the answer is yes, then no thought is given at all.

May I come inside?
Yes, you may.

But, if the answer is no, there are a few additional considerations to keep in mind.

A denial of permission is properly phrased formally by saying may not or with cannot or can’t.

You may not use my car tonight.
You cannot use my car tonight.
You can’t use my car tonight.

But, you should not use the contraction mayn’t. Most people are unaware of this contraction to being with, but for those writers/speakers who are, it’s best to avoid it.

Are May vs. Can Interchangeable ?

Does it really make a difference whether I use can I vs. may I?

The answer is, of course, it depends. Depends on what, you ask? As with most writing and speaking, choosing whether to use can or may depends on your audience.

If you are writing a highly formal letter where politeness and cordiality is a primary concern, you will definitely want to adhere to the traditional rule and use may to ask permission.

Similarly, if you are at a fancy restaurant, it might be more appropriate to as your waiter, May I have some more water? instead of saying, Can I have some more water?

May is the more polite option.

If, however, you are surrounded by peers in an informal setting, there is nothing wrong with asking your friend, Can I have another hot dog? at a cookout.

As with most writing and speaking, you need to know your audience and understand what is best for the situation at hand. When you wish to show courtesy, respect, and politeness, use may. When these are not of concern, using can is fine.

It should also be noted that while you can use can instead of the word may to request permission, you cannot use may instead of the word can to express ability.

I may play basketball. (WRONG)
I can play basketball. (CORRECT)

To say I may play basketball is a different statement than to say I can play basketball. While the former isn’t incorrect in all of its uses, it is incorrect for the intended meaning in this example. I may play basketball expresses the likelihood or your playing while I can play basketball expressed your ability to play.

Summary

Even if you rarely make the distinction between these words, it’s important to know the difference between may vs. can.

May is used to express possibility or ask permission.

Can is used to express ability and informally used to ask permission.

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May or Might

The two words may and might cause a lot of confusion in English and many writers aren’t sure when to use which one. A lot of people use them interchangeably, especially in speech, but is there really no difference between the two?

Today I want to clear up any confusion between these two words and outline the unique characteristics of each of them. I will cover their functions within the sentence, the grammar behind each word, and give plenty of examples so you won’t ever mix them up again.

May and Might When Expressing Possibility

In popular usage and speech, may and might are used interchangeably when referring to possibility and probability, but there is a slight difference between the two.

May

May is used to express what is possible, factual, or could be factual. For example,

He may lose his job.
We may go on vacation.
I may have dessert after dinner.

Might

Might is used to express what is hypothetical, counterfactual, or remotely possibly. For example,

If you hurry, you might get there on time.
If I had shown up on time, I might have kept my job.
If I win the lottery, I might buy a Ferrari.

Right away we notice that might deals with situations that are speculative or did not actually happen, i.e. hypothetical, whereas may deals with situations that are possible or could be factual.

An easy was to express/remember this difference is that might suggests a lower probability than does may. If something is very far-fetched, you probably want to use might. You could say might is for things that are mighty far-fetched.

Might is the Past Tense of May

The second distinction, which is the more important of the two, between these two words is that might is the past tense of may. In most confusing situations, you can easily make the correct choice by remembering this fact. For example,

He might have called earlier, but I was not home. (Past tense)
The criminal might not have been caught, had you not sounded the alarm. (Past tense)
I may go to the movies tonight. (Present tense)

If you can determine the tense of your sentence, you can easily choose between might or may.

Can You Use Might/May Have Interchangeably?

Some people claim that you can use might have and may have interchangeably, but this is a bad idea. May have should not be used in the past tense.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary’s 2012 Usage Panel survey, the vast majority of experts disagree with using might have and may have in the same contexts. AHD provided their panel with the following two sentences,

If John Lennon had not been shot, the Beatles might have gotten back together.
If John Lennon had not been shot, the Beatles may have gotten back together.

In the survey, 97 percent of the Usage Panelist found the first sentence to be acceptable while only 32 percent found the second sentence to be acceptable.

Far from just a few grammar-loving pedants, the majority of experts view this distinction as necessary, and if you’re writing for any kind of professional audience, you will want to make sure you’re keeping these two words separated.

May and Might When Asking Permission

May and might can also both be used when asking for permission. For example,

You may have another piece of cake.
May I go to the restroom?
Might I ask when the movie starts?
Might I ask for a favor?

When asking for permission, may is much more common than might.

While both of these words can be used to ask permission, if you’re not careful, they can lead to ambiguity. For example, if you were to ask the question,

May I go to the movies tonight?

You will want to be clear when you go to tell your friends whether or not your received permission. For example,

I may not go to the movies tonight.

When you say this, do you mean “I am not allowed to go to the movies tonight” or do you mean “I might not go to the movies tonight?”

In situations like this, it’s best to use might to avoid any confusion that might arise.

I might not go to the movies tonight.

Summary

It’s important to keep might vs. may separated so you can maintain clarity in your writing.

Might carries with it less probability and applies to hypothetical and counterfactual situations. Might is also the past tense of may.

May applies to situations that are possible or could be possible.

When talking about something that is not happening, it can be better to use might to avoid confusion with the permissive may.

Here is a link you can watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6INopxYK-c

Alright or All Right:

The use of alright (one word) and all right (two words) is one that confuses many writers, especially young writers who may not even be aware of the debate behind the two forms.
It is quite easy, however, to mistake the two for one another. After all, when you say them verbally, there’s no telling them a part. They sound identical in speech, but which option should be used in written communications? Or can they both be used?
In this blog, I want go over the differences between these words, talk about their histories, and give you a few tricks to remember which is which for the future. After reading this post, you shouldn't ever mix up alright vs. all right again.

When to Use Alright:

Alright is the non standard variant of the two-word all right. It is widely considered incorrect and is best to avoid in your writing, especially any type of formal writing.

For example:

The show we went to last night was alright. (Incorrect)

I felt alright after I left the restaurant. (Incorrect)

As time unfolds, however, we see alright being used with greater frequency. As the below graph shows, from the 1970s onward, alright has seen its use increased considerably, signaling that it may eventually become standard as other words such as altogether and already once did.

Altogether and already are much older and much more established words, however, dating back to the Middle Ages. Alright is a relatively new variant, with a first recorded use in 1893.

For this reason, the two-word all right still dominates in popular usage and is much more heavily preferred, being used at a rate 8 times that of the one-word alright.

In fact, in the 2009 American Heritage Dictionary usage survey, two-thirds of the Usage Panel rejected the use of the one-word alright, while over 90 percent accepted the two-word all right is similar constructions.

Things may change in the future, but when writing an essay for school or book for publishing today, you should avoid the use of the single-word alright.

When to Use All Right:

All Right, as two words, is a phrase that can function as both an adjective and an adverb. All right has a few different meanings: in proper or satisfactory condition; acceptable, allowable; in a satisfactory way; adequate. For example,

The mechanic looked at the brakes to see if they were all right. (Adjective)

If school is cancelled today, that is all right by me. (Adjective)

I did all right, considering all the pressure. (Adverb)

Anytime you are looking to use all right, it should appear as two separate words. As I mentioned above, the single-word alright is generally considered an error and your instructor or editor will probably strike it out.

In order to avoid any unnecessary mistakes, it’s best to just remember that, in this case, two words is the answer.

Remember the Difference:

Alright is not all right.

The above sentence is a good memory tool to remember which option to use in your writing.

Summary:

Confusing the words all right vs. alright can be an embarrassing and unnecessary mistake in your writing.

Alright, one word, is considered to be a spelling error and should be avoided.

All right, two words, is the preferred form. It is the older form and is used much more frequently than alright.

Here is a link you can watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOFWLKDk3Hk

Do and Make are two verbs which frequently confuse students. Here we will learn about the difference between Do and Make and when to use each one.

Do or Make

When do we use Do?

DO is used as follows:

1. DO is used when talking about work, jobs or tasks. Note, they do not produce any physical object.

Have you done your homework?
I have guests visiting tonight so I should start doing the housework now.
I wouldn't like to do that job.

The difference between Do vs Make in English

2. DO is used when we refer to activities in general without being specific. In these cases, we normally use words like thing, something, nothing, anything, everything etc.

Hurry up! I've got things to do!
Don't just stand there – do something!
Is there anything I can do to help you?

3. We sometimes use DO to replace a verb when the meaning is clear or obvious. This is more common in informal spoken English:

Do I need to do my hair? (do = brush or comb)
Have you done the dishes yet? (done = washed)
I'll do the kitchen if you do the lawns (do = clean, do = mow)

Remember Do can also be as an auxiliary verb (for making questions in the present tense - Do you like chocolate?) For more about Do used in this case, see our page about Do and Does. Here we will be talking about Do as a normal verb.

When do we use Make?

Make is for producing, constructing, creating or building something new.

It is also used to indicate the origin of a product or the materials that are used to make something.

His wedding ring is made of gold.
The house was made of adobe.
Wine is made from grapes.
The watches were made in Switzerland

We also use Make for producing an action or reaction:

Onions make your eyes water.
You make me happy.
It’s not my fault. My brother made me do it!

You make after certain nouns about plans and decisions:

make the arrangements,
make a choice

We use Make with nouns about speaking and certain sounds:

make a comment
make a noise
make a speech

We use Make with Food, Drink and Meals:

make a cake
make a cup of tea
make dinner

Compare Do and Make

A: You have to make a cake for Simon.

B: I’ll do it later.

Notice how in the response the verb DO is used. This is because the meaning is clear and to avoid saying “I’ll make it later.” which could sound repetitive.

Here is a link you can watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zKr6mjgYoQ

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Can or May.

When to Use Can:

When to Use May:

How to Express the Denial of Permission:

Are May vs. Can Interchangeable ?

Summary

May and Might When Expressing Possibility

Might is the Past Tense of May

Can You Use Might/May Have Interchangeably?

May and Might When Asking Permission

Summary

Alright or All Right:

When to Use Alright:

When to Use All Right:

Remember the Difference:

Summary:

When do we use Do?

When do we use Make?

Compare Do and Make

Introducing people

Referring to ideas

Maybe or May be

When do you use maybe and when do you use may be?

Maybe

May be

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