.
Giving two opposing facts, one with “may” and one with “but”, suggests the second has more importance for the writer
WAYS OF USING “may”
Sometimes the use of a word or grammar structure is best understood not in terms of what it “means”, but rather in terms of what it “does”. There are some uses of the word may that certainly fall into this category. At elementary level we learn how may can facilitate requesting (May I … ?), wishing (May you/he/they …) and giving permission (You/she may …). Elsewhere within these pages, there are various posts analysing uses of a more advanced nature (see especially 237. Auxiliary Verbs in Professional Communication).
“Making concessions” is perhaps a rather surprising use of may in professional writing. A concession is a statement through which writers accept the truth of something said by another person, even though it does not support their own belief (the word “concession” comes from the verb CONCEDE, which means “accept unwillingly”). For a may statement to be of this kind, it must usually have an accompanying statement that supports the opposing belief. Here is an example:
(a) Coal may be a cheap fuel, but it harms the environment.
The first half of this statement supports the view that coal fuel is desirable, whereas the second half supports the opposite view – the undesirability of coal fuel – and associates it with the writer.
In this post I wish to examine the components and language of concession statements like (a). For advice on when they might be used, see 152. Agreeing and Disagreeing in Formal Contexts and 168. Ways of Arguing 2. For advice on other ways to express opposing points, see 277. Advantages & Disadvantages.
.
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CONCESSIVE “may” SENTENCES
Concessive may is nearly always used in combination with a later but or one of its synonyms. The words after may and but must give two facts supporting opposite opinions (that coal in [a] is desirable / undesirable as a fuel). The opinions are not actually expressed in the statement with may… but… , but are merely implied by the two given facts. They may be stated explicitly either before or after (see 222. Information Orders in Texts, #4), but the ability of may… but… to clearly convey them means they often remain implicit.
Because the use of may in sentences like (a) often associates the point after it with other people than the writer, it can be considered an indicator of “multiple speakers” in its text (see 22. Multiple Speakers in a Text). In addition, it gives a polite early warning that the writer might disagree with the opinion it is helping to suggest (see 152. Agreeing and Disagreeing in Formal Contexts).
The role of but is to signal that an opposite opinion is being implied and that it has the writer’s support. It is the main means of recognizing that the opinion of the writer of (a) is against coal fuel. It and its synonyms can be reinforced by adding still. If a writer wanted to give the facts of sentence (a) without indicating a personal opinion, it would be possible to link them together like this:
(b) ONE THE ONE HAND, coal is a cheap fuel. ON THE OTHER, it harms the environment.
.
PARAPHRASES OF “may … but …”
The words may and but in a concession sentence are often paraphrased in a wide variety of ways.
1. Paraphrases of May
Most of the following are able to stand alone as a separate sentence, so that they can be followed by either a comma and the conjunction but or a full stop and a connector like however.
IT IS TRUE THAT coal is a cheap fuel…
IT MAY BE THAT coal is a cheap fuel…
IT HAS TO BE ADMITTED/CONCEDED that coal is a cheap fuel…
IT CANNOT BE DENIED that coal is a cheap fuel…
The low cost of coal as a fuel CANNOT BE DENIED…
Coal is CERTAINLY (etc.) a cheap fuel…
Coal IS INDEED a cheap fuel…
THERE IS NO DOUBT/DISPUTE/DENYING (THAT) coal is a cheap fuel…
Also noteworthy is the expression …is/are all very well, which requires the inconvenient point to be in noun rather than statement form (see 159. Exotic Grammar Structures 2, #2).
Certainly and indeed are adverbs of the “sentence” kind (see 121. Sentence-Spanning Adverbs), and hence can go at the start of their sentence as well as in the positions shown. They can be thought of as formal equivalents of yes (a word often found in spoken concessions). They are replaceable in written concession sentences with admittedly, definitely, no doubt, undeniably and undoubtedly. Other synonyms, such as truly, are not recommended in this use because they are not common there and are likely to sound inappropriate.
Certainly, definitely, undeniably and undoubtedly can be confusing in reading because they are also frequently used without a following but statement to indicate a strongly-held personal opinion (see 224. Asserting the Truth of what you Say). Readers hence need on encountering one of these words to keep an open mind about which of the two meanings is intended, and to stay alert for a following but or equivalent.
Note that indeed must be accompanied by the auxiliary verb DO (e.g. …does indeed cost less) unless the main verb is BE (as shown above) or one that already has a different auxiliary before it (BE, HAVE, will etc.).
.
2. Paraphrases of But
The most common synonyms of but are connectors rather than conjunctions, so that the two halves of the concession statement have to be in separate sentences instead of one (see 40. Conjunctions versus Connectors). The main but synonyms are:
HOWEVER (connector)
NEVERTHELESS (connector)
EVEN SO (connector)
DESPITE THIS (connector)
ALL THE SAME (connector)
(AND) YET (conjunction)
A further option is the conjunction although placed at the very start (with no may and no later but). However, I feel that this might convey a slightly different meaning: suggesting that it is the writer who is the source of the inconvenient first fact rather than someone else.
.
PRACTICE IN RECOGNISING CONCESSIONS
The greatest difficulty that concessions seem to give to English users who speak a different mother tongue is in recognising them while reading. Therefore, I offer for analysis a number of concessions in short reading texts (there is a similar exercise in my book Grammar Practice for Professional Writing).
.
EXERCISE: Read each text below in order to discover (a) the writer’s opinion, and (b) the equivalents of may and but. Answers are given afterwards.
1. Hydro-electric dams do indeed produce clean renewable energy, but in the longer term they can have quite noticeable effects on their surrounding eco-systems.
2. There is no doubt that the purchase of a national lottery ticket requires a much higher proportion of a poor person’s overall wealth than a rich person’s. The social injustice inherent in this is obvious. Even so, national lotteries raise large amounts of money for social causes like sport and the arts, and they provide a very important highlight for those who participate, not to mention those who win.
3. Poorer countries struggling to achieve the level of development of the advanced economies may face numerous obstacles that were simply non-existent when the very first industrial revolutions were occurring. Some striking successes have nevertheless been observed among those who have actively pursued development-focussed policies.
4. Dramatic changes in the activity at the surface of the sun are certainly capable of raising the earth’s atmospheric temperatures, and yet the recently-observed gradual rise in global temperatures correlates very closely with human beings’ dramatically increased use of fossil fuels over the last hundred years.
.
ANSWERS
1. Opinion = Hydro-electric dams are undesirable; Concession words = do indeed … but … .
2. Opinion = National lotteries are desirable; Concession words = There is no doubt that … Even so … .
3. Opinion = Development-focussed policies are desirable; Concession words = may … nevertheless … .
4. Opinion = Global warming is caused by human activity; Concession words = certainly … and yet … .
guinlist 