permission

Modals of Permission
Can, Could, May

A Long Beach City College ESL Department Web Lesson

Introduction Can, Could, May

Using Please Quizzes

Introduction

This lesson is a part of the Modals Opus. In this lesson, the modals of permission, can, could and may will be explained. This lesson will be followed by interactive quizzes.

Can, Could and May

Can, could and may are used to ask for permission. Can, could and may are almost identical when used as modals of permission. Can is considered more informal than could and may.

Since can, could and may are modals of permission, they are used in questions. The modals of permission are usually used with questions involving "I" or "we." However, they can be used in questions that ask permission for everyone except the person or people that one is asking. What that means is that one could say the any of the following:

Can I have some candy? Could I have some candy? May I have some candy?
Can he have some candy? Could he have some candy? May he have some candy?
Can she have some candy? Could she have some candy? May she have some candy?
Can it have some candy? Could it have some candy? May it have some candy?****
Can we have some candy? Could we have some candy? May we have some candy?
Can they have some candy? Could they have some candy? May they have some candy?

"You" cannot be used as the subject. It is grammatically correct to ask the following, "Can you have some candy?" However, this is not a modal of permission. It is a modal of ability. The question, "Can you have some candy?", is asking if the person has the ability to have some candy. The person may not be able to eat candy because he/she may be diabetic.

**** The use of "it" is grammatically correct but it is also awkward. Instead of it, a noun is used. For example: A dog is begging for food at the dinner table. One of the children could ask, "Can the dog have some table scraps?"

Using Please

When asking for permission, it is important to be polite. Thus, even though one can ask questions like the ones in the previous example, it is more formal and polite to use the word please. "Please" can follow the subject of the question or it can be placed at the end of the sentence. The use of please is demonstrated with the following examples.

Can I please use your telephone? Can I use your telephone, please?
May I please borrow your calculator? May I borrow your calculator, please?
Could I please leave class early? Could I leave class early, please?

In these examples, please is only used with "I" but please can be used with any subject.

Quizzes

Coming soon.