Jose Carillo's English Forum

English Grammar and Usage Problems => Use and Misuse => Topic started by: Sky on October 09, 2011, 07:50:46 PM

Title: Which one should be used, the compound verb "may be" or the adverb "maybe"?
Post by: Sky on October 09, 2011, 07:50:46 PM

A. We may be unaware of our own safety and feel that nothing can stop us.

B. We maybe unaware of our own safety and feel that nothing can stop us.

Title: Re: Which one should be used, the compound verb "may be" or the adverb "maybe"?
Post by: Joe Carillo on October 10, 2011, 10:06:18 AM

The correct usage for that sentence is the modal “may be,” as follows:

“We may be unaware of our own safety and feel that nothing can stop us.”

In the modal “may be”—with “may” separate from “be”—“may” functions as a verbal auxiliary to the verb “be” to express expectation of having, maintaining, or occupying a place, situation, or position.

In contrast, the word “maybe” is an adverb that means “perhaps.” To function properly, it needs to modify a verb, but we can see that there isn’t a corresponding verb in that other sentence you presented:

“We maybe unaware of our own safety and feel that nothing can stop us.”

For that sentence to work properly, it needs “are”—the plural form of the verb “be”—and must be reconstructed as follows:

“Maybe we are unaware of our own safety and feel that nothing can stop us.”

That sentence, of course, is the grammatical equivalent of the following constructions:

“Perhaps we are unaware of our own safety and feel that nothing can stop us.”
and
“We are perhaps unaware of our own safety and feel that nothing can stop us.”