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Cup cake Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Negative form of 'may'
Hi Everyone,
Given I have never used 'may' in its negative form, nor ever remember even learning it, my guess is that if you need to conjugate it - it would technically read as, 'mayn't'.
This looks incredibly strange to me. Is it correct?
And if it is, when would you use it? I've always said 'may not' when needed to use it.
What do others say?
Many thanks
CC
Given I have never used 'may' in its negative form, nor ever remember even learning it, my guess is that if you need to conjugate it - it would technically read as, 'mayn't'.
This looks incredibly strange to me. Is it correct?
And if it is, when would you use it? I've always said 'may not' when needed to use it.
What do others say?
Many thanks
CC
Top answer
mayn't used to be used in the past but it's not really used now. d
- mayn't used to be used in the past but it's not really used now.
- d
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4 Answers
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mayn't used to be used in the past but it's not really used now.
d
d
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The contraction "mayn't" is not often used. To me it looks old-fashioned, like something I'd expect to read in an old book.
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I agree on the rare use of the contraction in modern writing and speech but " may not" is certainly quite common.
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