Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Interrogatives with can, could, may and might

415b

Can

, could, may and might are all used to ask for permission to do something.

Can I

is the least formal and most direct, could I is more formal and less direct,

and may I is the most formal and least direct of the three. May I to ask permission

is infrequent in informal conversation. Might I is very formal and rare:

A: I haven’t read the complete thing at all. I’ve just I’ve kind of flicked through

it and read bits and pieces. 

B: [reads the title] ‘The Teaching of Languages in Linguistics’. 

Can I borrow it

for a week or so

? And then I’ll give it back to you then. 

A: Yeah. Sure. Absolutely.

A: 

Could we have this room for the next hour

?

B: Yes, you can. Don’t forget to lock it though when you’ve finished.

(note the positive reply: ‘Yes, you can’, not ‘Yes, you could’, which would

suggest hesitation, or perhaps that there is a problem: ‘Yes you could, but it may

be too small for you’)

She glanced around the kitchen, reluctant to move farther into the apartment,

coming up with one more item of business to delay it a few minutes. ‘

May I use

your phone, Christopher

? I’d like to call the shop.’

‘Sure.’

‘

Might I speak to Mrs Lutterworth

?’ said Willow. 

‘I am not sure that she’s in. Who is it who wants her?’ 

‘My name is Woodruffe, Cressida Woodruffe. I’m a writer and I’m doing some

research for a novel about an architect.’