[英语]May be not or May not be?

    摘自：http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/46869-may-not-may-not.html

    What is the difference between "may be not" and "may not be" ?

    Example:
    - She may be not a student.
    - She may not be a student.
    ==> Do the two sentences have the same meaning?

    [1] She may be not a student, ...
    Meaning => True, she is not a student, she's a teacher, but she works just as hard as a student. She studies English at home on her own time.

    [2] She may not be a student.
    Meaning => There is a possibility that she is not a student.

    Modal may, like modal must, is ambiguous between epistemic and deontic modality:

    Deontic modality
    Ex: She may go to school.
    => permission; e.g., she is allowed to go.

    Negated
    Ex: She may not go to school.
    => permission to go to school is denied.
    Epistempic modality
    Ex: She may be at school.
    => possibility;e.g., It is possible that she is at school.

    Negated
    Ex: She may not be at school.
    => There's a possibility that she is not at school.

    Ex: She may be not at school, but ...
    => True, she is not at school, she's at home, but she's at home studying right now as if she were in school.
    Does that help?

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