Em meus tempos de escola nossos professores sempre repetiam as mesmas coisas, todo santo dia:
“Push your chair in”;
“Say please and thank you”;
“Sit up straight”…
Uma coisa que eu aprendi rapidamente, e que trago comigo até hoje, é o uso de CAN, WILL e MAY.
O que quero dizer com isto?
“Mrs. Couto, CAN I go to the bathroom”?
E a Sra Couto dizia, em resposta: “I don’t know, CAN you”?
Neste sentido, o termo CAN está perguntando se você é capaz, como se eu dissesse: “Mrs. Couto, am I CAPABLE of going to the bathroom”?
O modo mais polido de perguntar a mesma coisa seria: “Mrs. Couto, May I go to the bathroom”? Então a professora diria: “Yes, you may”.
Neste exemplo pode ser ridículo usar a palavra CAN.
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![we can do it]( "We CAN do it... (Conseguimos | Somos capazes)")
Outra coisa que costumava acontecer frequentemente era usar a palavra WILL em lugar de CAN.
Veja a situação:
“Mrs. N, CAN you give me a ride to school”?
E a Sra N respondia: “Well, I CAN, but I am not going to”.
Quando fizer um pedido a alguém, o modo correto é: “Mrs. N, WILL you give me a ride to school”? Então, a pessoa pode responder: “Yes I will”, ou “No, I won’t”.
Não esqueça: é mais cordial usar Will e May em todas as situações.
English Version
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Back in my old school days our teachers always repeated the same things every single day to the same pupils:
“Push your chair in”;
“Say please and thank you”;
“Sit up straight”…
Something that I learned fairly quickly and gets to me to this day is the usage of CAN, WILL, and MAY. What do I mean by this?
“Mrs. Couto, CAN I go to the bathroom”?
Mrs. Couto in turn would say “I don’t know, CAN you”?
In this sense, the word CAN is asking if you are capable… Take a look: “Mrs. Couto, am I CAPABLE of going to the bathroom”?
The more polite way to ask the same question is “Mrs. Couto, May I go to the bathroom”? The teacher replies “Yes, you may”.
In this example, one can look ridiculous when using the word CAN.
Another thing that used to happen on a regular basis was replacing the word WILL with CAN when making a request. Take a look at the situation.
“Mrs. N, CAN you give me a ride to school”?
Mrs. N. replies “Well, I CAN, but I am not going to”. You are asking the person if it is possible that she does this, and she is saying that it is, but she is not going to.
When making a request to someone, the correct manner is “Mrs. N, WILL you give me a ride to school”?
The person can reply “Yes I will”, or “No, I won’t”.
Reader, do not forget: it is more cordial to use Will and May in all situations.
