Polite request--using may

paksu · Post by **paksu** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 2:00 pm

I would like know which sentence is correct.

1.May i know what time it is ?

2.May i know what is the time ?

Thanks

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 7:39 pm

2 is incorrect

"May I know what the time is?"

would be correct.

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:48 pm

Stephen Jones wrote:2 is incorrect

"May I know what the time is?"

would be correct.

You know very well that this is not the time!

May I know...?

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 12:05 am

.....which time would be suitable?

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 8:40 pm

The last two comments suggest that Gnomic has become the lingua franca of the forum.

What time is it" is fifty times more common according to Google than what the time is but the top hits for both give the same meaning.

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 8:42 pm

Thirteen times more common according to the BNC (135 to 11)

Tara B · Post by **Tara B** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 5:00 pm

Incidentally, I would question your choice of modals. "May I" besides being the most formal way to make a request, implies an element of permission. I am having a hard time imagining a situation where you would want to ask someone's permission to know the time.

"May I go to the bathroom?" although too formal for my everyday brash American manners, makes sense.

"May I have the time?" all though gramatically correct, is not pragmatically correct. It sounds, quite frankly, foreigner speech.

If you want to ask the time, in a polite way, I would recommend:
"Could I have the time?" or even better,
"Could you give me the time," or "Could you tell me what time it is?"

lolwhites · Post by **lolwhites** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 5:18 pm

I agree with Tara that May I know... sounds weird. There are so many ways that seem far more natural to my ears e.g.

Could you tell me...
May I ask... (A bit formal to me)

In fact, it May I know... sounds like something said by a student who has been taught all grammar and no pragmatics. Grammatically possible but rarely said by a native speaker.

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 7:57 pm

My instinct says the same as you lolwhites but it seems we should not trust it.

Google gives 93,000 hits for 'may I know' and 523,000 for 'could you tell me'

The BYU gives 8 for 'may I know' (of which two should be discounted) and 98 for 'could you tell me'.

A big enough difference to say that 'may I know' is much less common but not big enough to say it is never used.

In British English it is exceptionally polite; as Americans are much politer than Brits I would expect it to be more common in American English.

Tara B · Post by **Tara B** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 3:04 pm

. . . as Americans are much politer than Brits . . .

More subtle irony, SJ?