May my son eat one of those sweets?

[Luis Fleming]

Modal Verbs of Permission, Requests and Offers

We use 'can', 'may' and 'could' to ask and give permission, make a request and offer help. Read this article to learn how to use them correctly.

grammartop.com

1) When asking for permission, can I use can, could, and may with all the subjects? (May my son...?, Could the children use the playground?)
2) Can I say either "....asking for permission" or "... asking permission"?
3) There's an example in the link I posted that starts with "Could you...?" for permission. I don't think it's a good one.

 

[jutfrank]

1) No, don't use May my son ... Use can.
2) Yes, but I suggest you use the former.
3) That sentence is not an example of asking for permission.

 

[Yankee]

Modal Verbs of Permission, Requests and Offers

We use 'can', 'may' and 'could' to ask and give permission, make a request and offer help. Read this article to learn how to use them correctly.

grammartop.com

1) When asking for permission, can I use can, could, and may with all the subjects? (May my son...?, Could the children use the playground?) Yes, but "can" would be most common, "may" for asking formal/authoritative permission, "could" as if there were some possible conditions.
2) Can I say either "....asking for permission" or "... asking permission"? Yes.
3) There's an example in the link I posted that starts with "Could you...?" for permission. I don't think it's a good one. It could work.

 

[Tarheel]

If you say, "Could you tell me how to get to Maple Street?" that's asking for directions, not permission.

 

[Tdol]

1) No, don't use May my son ... Use can.

Or could.