May he come - Is this correct

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

“May he come” (future/present tense) - Is thiscorrect ?
OR
May he comeS - correct?
2. Does anybody logged into the machine? - Is this correct?
3. Will he come? OR - Will he comes?
4. He could have been there? - Is this telling the capability of a person to be at some place in the future? What is the tense here?

Thanks,
Suresh

2

Hi,

I’ve added some comments:

“May he come” (future/present tense) - Is this correct ? This means: Is he allowed to come?OR
May he comeS - correct? Must be: come
2. Does anybody logged into the machine? - Is this correct? This should be: Is anybody …
3. Will he come? OR - Will he comes? Must be: come
4. He could have been there? - Is this telling the capability of a person to be at some place in the future? What is the tense here?

As a question: Could he have been there? This means: Was it/has it been possible that he was there?

Alan

3

Alan,
Thank you very much for your time and answer.

4

Good morning Suresh.
When using modal verbs such as “may”, “could” “will” some grammar rules apply to them:

The main verbs will always be used in their base form i.e. “may he COME” and “will he COME”.

When adding “Have” to any modal verb, gives the idea of past tense to the modal verb even to one as “could” that is the past tense of the modal verb “can”, altough “could” also gives the idea of future tense to an expression, in this regard “could” and “Might” are both similar.

Example: “He could be there” (means in to the future)
“he could HAVE been there” (means in the past).

When using simple present tense, the auxiliar verbs used for questions and negative forms are “do and does” or “Did” for the simple past tense and the main verbs will always remain in its base form, thus in the example you used

“Does anybody LOGGED in to the machine”

should rather be “Does anybody LOG in to the machine” (Present tense)
or “DID anybody LOG in to the machine” (past tense).

God Bless you.
cisco795

5

Hello Cisco,
Really very impressive explanation. You might have spend a lot of time for me. Thanks for your answers,Suresh

6

You are welcome.
Truth is, we all need help and we all should help each other whenever we possibly can.
I am glad to help.

God Bless you.
Cisco.

7

Hi Alan,
Can I use ‘may he come’ to mean: ‘I/we hope that he will come’? Could it be a syntax like this: ‘May you have a merry Christmas’?

Many thanks,
Nessie.