may be vs maybe

Hey there,

This question actually has a pretty straightforward answer!

"Maybe" is always (in formal writing) an adverb. It can modify the whole sentence if it wants to, but it means exactly the same thing as "perhaps" (synonymous also with "possibly," "conceivably," and other adverbs of uncertainty).

Maybe it will rain. Maybe we'll go to the show. Maybe he'll eat a pie.

"May be" is a verb construction, and it's just the uncertain version of "is/are" or of "will be."

I'd say "That may be the biggest dog I've ever seen" if I'm not totally sure that it IS the biggest dog I've ever seen.
Or "I may be a few minutes late to dinner" if I'm not totally sure (or at least don't want to admit that I'm totally sure!) that I WILL BE a few minutes late to dinner.

Notice that if you removed "may be" from a sentence and didn't replace it, that sentence would cry "where's my verb?" ... whereas if you removed "maybe" from a sentence, the sentence would just be more certain than it should be, but grammatically, it'd remain totally fine.

(Note: In very informal writing, "maybe" can be used as a noun to mean "uncertain thing," e.g. "If all goes as planned, we'll move to Canada next year, but there are a lot of maybes." This usage shows up strictly in informal writing, though.)

Ashley@VeritasPrep wrote:Hey there,

This question actually has a pretty straightforward answer!

"Maybe" is always (in formal writing) an adverb. It can modify the whole sentence if it wants to, but it means exactly the same thing as "perhaps" (synonymous also with "possibly," "conceivably," and other adverbs of uncertainty).

Maybe it will rain. Maybe we'll go to the show. Maybe he'll eat a pie.

"May be" is a verb construction, and it's just the uncertain version of "is/are" or of "will be."

I'd say "That may be the biggest dog I've ever seen" if I'm not totally sure that it IS the biggest dog I've ever seen.
Or "I may be a few minutes late to dinner" if I'm not totally sure (or at least don't want to admit that I'm totally sure!) that I WILL BE a few minutes late to dinner.

Notice that if you removed "may be" from a sentence and didn't replace it, that sentence would cry "where's my verb?" ... whereas if you removed "maybe" from a sentence, the sentence would just be more certain than it should be, but grammatically, it'd remain totally fine.

(Note: In very informal writing, "maybe" can be used as a noun to mean "uncertain thing," e.g. "If all goes as planned, we'll move to Canada next year, but there are a lot of maybes." This usage shows up strictly in informal writing, though.)

Thanks...You rock Ashley!!!