WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Grammar Minute: "Can" vs. "May"

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

The Case of the Electric Guitar - You CAN, but you MAY not. (Should you?) Learn more on today's episode of Grammar Minute!

Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we're saving the English language 60 seconds at a time. I'm Lauren Smith, and I'm here to tell you that you can jump up on a table in the middle of class and start playing the electric guitar. Chances are, though, you don't have permission to do this, and so even though you can, you may not. Informal English often gives can and may the same meaning. You can have a cookie implies both that you have the possibility of eating the cookie and the permission to do it. Often, though, this distinction is actually meaningful. There are many things you have permission but not possibility to do, and often things you have possibility but not permission to do.

If you want to distinguish, use can and may carefully. Can implies possibility. May implies permission. They're similar, but they don't quite mean the same thing. That's your Grammar Minute. Visit thegrammerminit.com for more tips and tricks.