Use of 'may'

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Offroad

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Dear teachers

Does this sentence read well?

I would like to test engines A, B, C and others the company may have available.

A, B and C represent car makers.

I would have simply used 'has available' subjected to the condition I know they have other cars.

Thank you
 

MikeNewYork

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Dear teachers

Does this sentence read well?

I would like to test engines A, B, C and others the company may have available.

A, B and C represent car makers.

I would have simply used 'has available' subjected to the condition I know they have other cars.

Thank you

Yes, your sentence is fine.
 

emsr2d2

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Dear teachers

Does this sentence read well?

I would like to test engines A, B, C and others the company may have available.

A, B and C represent car makers.

I would have simply used 'has available' subjected to the condition I know they have other cars.

Thank you.

I would use either "... the company has/have available" or "... the company might have available". You will find many threads on this forum explaining that "may" means "be allowed to".

The company may offer other engines = The company is allowed to offer other engines.
The company might offer other engines = It is possible that the company offers other engines.
 

MikeNewYork

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I would use either "... the company has/have available" or "... the company might have available". You will find many threads on this forum explaining that "may" means "be allowed to".

The company may offer other engines = The company is allowed to offer other engines.
The company might offer other engines = It is possible that the company offers other engines.

"May", as well as "might", can be used as a measure of likelihood or possibility. Most people see "may" as more likely than "might".

It may rain tomorrow.
It might rain tomorrow.
 

probus

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Dear teachers

Does this sentence read well?

I would like to test engines A, B, C and others the company may have available.

A, B and C represent car makers.

I would have simply used 'has available' subjected to the condition I know they have other cars.

Thank you

I agree with you. Neither may nor might is required. The simple "has available" works just fine.
 

sdpegasus

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How about this structure-

I would like to test engines A, B, C and others that company has to offer.
 

Rover_KE

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emsr2d2

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How about this structure-

I would like to test engines A, B, C and others that company has to offer.

I think it's fine as it is. My initial reaction was to say that it needed "the" before "company". However, I then realised that it might be considered to mean "that company" in which case there is an implied "which" before it.

I would like to test engines A, B and C and others [which] that company has to offer.
 
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