May of - may because of.

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david11

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All of these should help firms in the present difficult climate. It is perhaps surprising that Mr Lamont did not do something to stop the iniquitous practice of large firms delaying due payments to small firms, which has put may of the latter into serious difficulty.

Does may of in the above paragraph mean same as may because of?

And what does may of generally mean?
 

5jj

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It's a typo; 'may' should be 'many'.
 

david11

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It is an example from British National Corpus (BYU-BNC).


What about this sentence?

John Smith may of necessity have toured the prawn cocktail circuit of the City but he represents those parts of the UK deeply suspicious of its working.
 

5jj

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Rover_KE

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The of goes with necessity - not with may.

Leave out of necessity for a moment:

'John Smith may have toured the prawn cocktail circuit. . .'

It was necessary for him to tour the circuit, so he did it of necessity.

So: 'John Smith may of necessity have toured. . . '

Rover
 

david11

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Then doesn't the combination of may and of exist at all?(other than may of this year..)


Because I see lots of sentence with them?


For example: Again the countryside suffered with the closure of rural lines, may of which were in Wales. The Central Wales Line survived, only to face a further closure proposal in 1967 and its second reprieve in 1969.
 
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Rover_KE

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Then doesn't the combination of may and of exist at all?(other than May of this year..) No.


Because I see lots of sentence with them? I can't say that I do.


For example: 'Again the countryside suffered with the closure of rural lines, may of which were in Wales. The Central Wales Line survived, only to face a further closure proposal in 1967 and its second reprieve in 1969.' That's another typo of many.



Rover
 

david11

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What about use of may of in this example?


Oral bioavailability may of these drugs by any other route of administration is be described as the fraction of the total oral dose for usually pointless, unless there is some highly which systemic exposure is achieved.”
 

5jj

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What about use of may of in this example?


Oral bioavailability may of these drugs by any other route of administration is be described as the fraction of the total oral dose for usually pointless, unless there is some highly which systemic exposure is achieved.”
It makes no sense. It sounds like a machine translation.
 

david11

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It makes no sense. It sounds like a machine translation.

Then please give an example sentence using may of.(other than may of this year)
 

5jj

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'Of' may follow 'may', as we saw in your second 'May (of necessity)' example, but there is no expression 'may of'.

The modal perfect 'may have (+ past participle)' is often pronounced as /meɪəv/. As this sounds the same as 'may of' would, if it existed, some people incorrectly write it as 'may of'.
 

david11

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'Of' may follow 'may', as we saw in your second 'May (of necessity)' example, but there is no expression 'may of'.

The modal perfect 'may have (+ past participle)' is often pronounced as /meɪəv/. As this sounds the same as 'may of' would, if it existed, some people incorrectly write it as 'may of'.

But the British National Corpus (BYU-BNC) has 122 examples.
 

5jj

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Well, I looked through the first 50. They include examples of a word missing, a couple of typos for 'many', several examples of the 'May of 1984' type, a couple of the 'may, of necessity' type, and several examples of the mistake I mentioned in my last post.

I repeat, there is no expression 'may of'.
 

bhaisahab

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What do you mean by this?
There is at least one example of a missing "be". I didn't read through all of the examples because I know, as 5jj has clearly stated, there is no expression "may of".
 

5jj

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There is at least one example of a missing "be".
Thanks, bhai, for that response - rather more succinct (or, perhaps, more restrained) than mine would have been.

Here is one example, fom BNC: reference to er information or er material that may of significance. It will be interesting to know how the wha how the minister
 

emsr2d2

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Sadly, the misspelling of "may have" as "may of" is rife, even amongst some of my otherwise well-educated and well-read friends. I see an alarming number of examples of:

May of
Should of
Would of
Might of
May of

ALL of which are incorrect, by the way, if anyone was in any doubt, when the "of" should be "have".

Apart from the two examples already cited ("may of necessity" and "May of 1984"), there is no expression "may of".
 
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