"May you" or "may you please"? - Jose Carillo's English Forum

The problem with “may you please” is not only that it's grammatically redundant, “may” being a modal for humbly asking permission to do ... JoseCarillo'sEnglishForum Welcome,Guest.Pleaseloginorregister. 1Hour 1Day 1Week 1Month Forever Loginwithusername,passwordandsessionlength   News: ReadJoseCarillo's"EnglishPlainandSimple"columninTheManilaTimesthisweek:“GettingourPhilippinehistoryrightafter500years-15” Home Help Search Login Register JoseCarillo'sEnglishForum» EnglishGrammarandUsageProblems» UseandMisuse» "Mayyou"or"mayyouplease"? «previousnext» Print Pages:[1] Author Topic:"Mayyou"or"mayyouplease"? (Read21187times) MissMae HeroMember Posts:473 Karma:+0/-0 "Mayyou"or"mayyouplease"? «on:July21,2015,08:17:52PM» Mymotheraskedmeyesterdayifthephrase"mayyouplease"isnotwrong."Ofcourseitisn't,Ma!"Iblurtedout,recallingthetimesthatIhaveusedthatconstruction.ButwasIcorrect,Sir?WasIreallycorrectinsayingthatmay,whichisoneoftheEnglishmodalverbs,canbeusedwithplease,whichisanadverbusedtoimplypolitenessinrequestsorquestions? «LastEdit:July26,2015,07:06:00AMbyJoeCarillo» Logged JoeCarillo Administrator HeroMember Posts:4305 Karma:+101/-2 Re:"Mayyou"or"mayyouplease"? «Reply#1on:July26,2015,07:04:31AM» I’lltellyououtrightthatyougavewronggrammaradvicetoyourMomandhavebeenwrongallalonginusingtheconstruction“mayyouplease.”It’sdefinitelybadformandterriblyunidiomatictousethemodal“may”intandemwiththefunctionword“please,”asin,say,theimpossiblywrongheaded“Mayyoupleaseopenthedoor?”Theproblemwith“mayyouplease”isnotonlythatit’sgrammaticallyredundant,“may”beingamodalforhumblyaskingpermissiontodosomethingand“please”beingafunctionwordforalsoexpressingpolitenesswhenmakingarequest.Thebiggerproblemisthat“mayyouplease”actuallybreachestheupperlimitsofexpressingpoliteness,makingthespeakersoundoverlydeferentialandevenfawningtothepersonbeingaddressed.(Togetapetitiongranted,imagineprostratingyourselfbeforeroyaltyinuttersupplication.)RemembernowthatinthehierarchyofEnglishmodalsforaskingpermission,“may”isalreadythelowestinthetotempoleforforthrightnessinmakingarequest,way,waybelowthemodals “would,”“could,”“will,”and“can”(inthatorderofdecreasingdegreeofforthrightness).Indeed,“may”isalreadyatrockbottomforforthrightnessandsoexceedinglyhighforpolitenessthatitcannolongertake“please”tofurtherintensifyit.Thus,whilegoodEnglishcan’tcountenanceandhaseffectivelybanishedconstructionslike“Mayyoupleaseopenthedoor?”,itgiveswidelatitudetotheotherrequestmodalstoworkintandemwith“please,”allowingustosay“Wouldyoupleaseopenthedoor”,“Couldyoupleaseopenthedoor”,“Willyoupleaseopenthedoor,”or“Canyoupleaseopenthedoor”dependingonourdesireddegreeofpolitenessorthatsociallyrequiredbythesituation. «LastEdit:January15,2018,07:19:20AMbyJoeCarillo» Logged CheckouttheForum'sHomepageCheckoutJoseCarillo'sBlog MissMae HeroMember Posts:473 Karma:+0/-0 Re:"Mayyou"or"mayyouplease"? «Reply#2on:August05,2015,02:26:45PM» Thankyouforthisclarification,Sir! Logged Print Pages:[1] «previousnext» JoseCarillo'sEnglishForum» EnglishGrammarandUsageProblems» UseandMisuse» "Mayyou"or"mayyouplease"?   SMF2.0.18| SMF©2021,SimpleMachinesSMFAdsforFreeForums XHTML RSS WAP2