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Subject:Re: "May" vs. "Can" From:Callie <callie -at- WRITEPAGE -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 11 Aug 1995 10:37:06 GMT
In article <23BED3A1758 -at- ris -dot- risinc -dot- com>, Sue Heim <SUE -at- ris -dot- risinc -dot- com> wrote:
>How do you feel about using "may" or "can" in docs and marketing
>collaterals. For example, I really don't like the following sentence
>(this is from a brochure of ours):
>"Author reprint request cards may be generated, and references can be
>output in a variety of formats."
You are right. "May" has the overtone of optional or iffy, while "can" has
the overtone of "this is a possible action".
