the adverb maybe

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Hi everybody,

While reading my grammar book I come across a new grammar question I was not familiar with. It was about the usage of the adverb maybe.
So, can we use the adverb maybe with the verb may be together in one sentence? For example, Maybe he may be in his office, Maybe he may be in his office tomorrow. The first sentence (Maybe he may be in his office) seems to me to be incorrect. But I think the second sentence (Maybe he may be in his office tomorrow) is correct. Or mustn't we use them together in one sentence?

Many thanks in advance,

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Type: Question • Score: 4 • Views: 599 • Replies: 11

[+3] - contrex - 02/15/2015[quote="layman"]I really can't see where there is an substantive difference between "may be," and "maybe" in many cases.[/quote] They are not equivalent, and each is...

@englishawsome,

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@englishawsome,

Eng, grammar is okay but sort of tautology, depending on the context

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@Lordyaswas,

Buddy Holly ROCKS!

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@englishawsome,

englishawsome wrote:

Hi everybody,

While reading my grammar book I come across a new grammar question I was not familiar with. It was about the usage of the adverb maybe.
So, can we use the adverb maybe with the verb may be together in one sentence? For example, Maybe he may be in his office, Maybe he may be in his office tomorrow. The first sentence (Maybe he may be in his office) seems to me to be incorrect. But I think the second sentence (Maybe he may be in his office tomorrow) is correct. Or mustn't we use them together in one sentence?

Many thanks in advance,

A lot of hair-splitting goes on in prescriptive grammar that is useless from the perspective of descriptive grammar. Grammar isn't like math; you can often find arguments to support contradictory answers. In the examples that you gave, regardless of which one - if either - is technically, hair-splittingly "correct," neither of them are very acceptable in descriptive terms. If you wrote either of them as part of an essay for a writing class, the teacher would be most likely to ask you to rewrite it for style and clarity.

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@englishawsome,

I really can't see where there is an substantive difference between "may be," and "maybe" in many cases. It would seem merely redundant to use each to refer to the same situation.

"It may be that the moon is made of green cheese."

"Maybe the moon is made of green cheese."

What's the difference (other than leaving out the space between the two words)?

"Be," on its own, generally implies existence or an actual state of affairs.

On the other hand, "maybe" (or may be) suggests that the "being" (existence) of the thing being referred to is in doubt.

2 Replies

@layman,

layman wrote:

I really can't see where there is an substantive difference between "may be," and "maybe" in many cases.

They are not equivalent, and each is sometimes wrongly used in place of the other. This is a common mistake for students learning English, and sometimes native speakers too.

Maybe: adverb - perhaps, possibly.

Maybe I won't go back; maybe it will rain later; maybe our meeting will be postponed until he comes back.

May be: phrase using modal verb "may" (might) and verb "be".

Our boss was sick yesterday so he may be absent from work today; I may be able to repair your car tomorrow.

2 Replies

@contrex,

I said substantive difference, Contrex, not that the two were identical "parts of speech." My point was that to use them both would be redundant.

By redundant, I just mean that it's like saying the same thing twice, all over again, and also, too, that you're just repeating yourself, for a second time, all over again.

Quote:

Maybe: adverb - perhaps, possibly.

OK.

Quote:

Our boss was sick yesterday so he may be absent from work today

Then again, he may NOT be absent, eh?

The suggestion is the same. One of "possibility" or "contingency" rather than one of actuality or certainty.

the adverb maybe

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