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Thread: He probably did/He may well have don

  1. #1
    AlexAD's Avatar
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    Default He probably did/He may well have don

    Hello.

    I am working on my spoken English and as I was listening to the audio lesson I heard this,
    'Did he eat candy? Yes, he probably ate candy.' and I then the construction of 'may well' meaning 'probably' came to my mind and I applied it in this context. So I got,
    'Did he eat candy? Yes, he may well have eaten candy.'

    Is that correct? Does that sound natural?
    Is that standard English or is that BrE?
    Being non-native speaker, should I avoid this construction or use it?

    Thanks, Alex.
    Last edited by AlexAD; 20-Feb-2012 at 19:13. Reason: Correction

  2. #2
    5jj's Avatar
    5jj
    5jj is online now Moderator
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    Default Re: He probably did/He may well have don

    'Did he eat candy? Yes, he may as well have eaten candy.'

    'May' well' and 'may as well' mean different things. You want 'may well' here.
    AlexAD, emsr2d2 and bhaisahab like this.
    Context is important. Please provide enough for us to be able to deal effectively with your question.
    Your thread title should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed.
    If you just want to know the meaning of a word, try OneLook Dictionary Search first.


  3. #3
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    AlexAD is offline Senior Member
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    Default Re: He probably did/He may well have don

    Quote Originally Posted by 5jj View Post
    'Did he eat candy? Yes, he may as well have eaten candy.'
    'May' well' and 'may as well' mean different things. You want 'may well' here.
    Sorry, corrected.

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