word choice - Difference between "can" and "may"




Can/May/Will you help me with this?



Which is correct if I want to request for a pen?




  • Can I have your pen please?

  • May I have your pen please?




Answer



Can primarily expresses possibility and ability and, secondarily, permission. May expresses primarily possibility and, secondarily, permision and volition. In seeking permission, as in your examples, the use of may is much more formal and polite than can and is used rather less.


However, both 'Can I have your pen please?' and 'May I have your pen please?' are blunt ways of making a request. In practice, a native speaker, at least of British English, is much more likely to say something like 'You don't happen to have a pen I could borrow, do you?'


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