英语口语常见近义词语分析与使用

Lesson 1

Three words: may, might, and can.

Three meanings: ability, possibility, and permission.

May has two meanings:

1.possibility– something is possible, but not certain.

2.permission– something is permissible, or allowed.

A while ago, this was just a rumor:

“ABCD may merge with XYZ.”

This is the same as saying “ABCD might merge with XYZ.” It might happen, but it might not. Both sentences mean that we are not sure. May and might are expressing possibility. This is a different meaning than:

“May I go to the restroom?”

“Yes, you may.”

Here, may is expressing permission– whether or not someone is allowed to do something.

Sometimes only context will tell which meaning we are expressing:

“I may take Friday off.”

“You may take Friday off.”

These sentences sound almost the same, but the meaning of may is different. I would not give myself permission to take Friday off, so the first sentence is saying that I am thinking about taking Friday off, but I might change my mind. In other words, there is a possibility that I will take Friday off. In the second sentence, someone else (probably my boss) is talking to me. Somebody else would not know what I am planning to do, so they are probably not trying to guess. Instead, this person is telling me that I am allowed to take Friday off. He or she is giving me permission.

Can is used to express ability.

“I can fix this bug.”

I have the ability to fix the bug. I haven’t done it yet, but I am able to do it. Can is also used to express permission, just like may:

“Can I go to the restroom?”

“Yes, you can.”

However, we should be careful not to use may to express ability:

“ may run on m any platforms.”

Are you trying to say that is allowed to run on many platforms? Or that

might run on many platforms, but might not? You probably mean to say:

“ can run on many platforms.” is capable of running on many different platforms.

President Obama would not have sounded so confident if he campaigned on “Yes, we may!” instead of “Yes, we can!”

The attached diagram summarizes the meanings that may, might, and can express.

Lesson 2

This week, let’s take a look at four words that have a complicated relationship.

As explained here, will and shall are both used to express the future tense, and would and should are their conditional forms:

.learn-english-today./lessons/lesson_contents/shall-will_should-would.htm

However, this explanation is a bit difficult to understand, and in modern English, will is the primary word for future tense while the other three words have more specialized uses, so let me explain how these words are used a little more simply.

In general, when you talk about something that is going to happen in the future, use the word will.