I wonder if I could/might

Or they may be over-cautious or obsequious:

Might I (possibly) be allowed to...?

Granting and refusing permission

Permission can be granted or refused as follows:

You can(not) watch TV for as long as you like (Not *could*)

may (not) (Not might*)

You may/may not carries the authority of the speaker and is the equivalent of 'I (personally) give you permission'. You can/cannot is more general and does not necessarily imply personal permission Permission issuing from some other authority can be granted or withheld more emphatically with be allowed to, be permited to and be forbidden to, as follows:

You can/cannot or You're allowed to/not allowed to

You can/cannot or You're permitted to/not permitted

You mustn't or You're forbidden to smoke here.

Granting/refusing permission is not confined to 1st and 2nd persons

Johnny/Frankie can/can't may/may not/mustn't stay up late.

This can be extended to:

- rule-making e.g. for games: Each player may choosefive cards

- other contexts: Candidates may not attemptmore than three

questions.

Permission may also be given by a speaker with shall in the 2nd and 3rd persons (formal and literary):

You shall do as you please, (i.e. You have my permission to) He shall do as he pleases, (i.e. He has my permission to ) Permission may also be denied with shan't in BrE only [>9.36n3] If you don't behave yourself, you shan'tgo out/be allowed out. If he doesn't behave himself, he shan'tgo out/be allowed out. Numerous alternative forms are available to express anyth mild refusal { I ' d rather you didn't if you don't mind) to strong. prohibition (/ forbid you to .) Formal and strong statements with non-modal forms are often found in public notices [compare > 12.9.1 Thank you for not smoking(i.e. please don't) Passengers are requested to remain seatedtill the aircraft stops Trespassing is strictly forbidden

11 Modal auxiliaries and related verbs