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Old Tue Dec 12, 2006, 05:03pm
HawkeyeCubP HawkeyeCubP is offline
(Something hilarious)
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: These United States
Posts: 1,162
Quote:
Originally Posted by BadNewsRef
May v. Shall: very different meanings

May not v. shall not: take on basically the same meaning but still slightly differ

Look at it this way: "You may not go home" has the same meaning as "You shall not go home". However, "You may go home" does not have the same meaning as "You shall go home".

May = "is/are permitted to"

May not = "is/are not permitted to"

Shall = "is/are directed to"

Shall not = "is/are directed not to"

Replace shall, shall not, may, & may not with the phrases in quotes whenever you see a question and then answer it.
Again, yes - got it. Thanks BadNews. And the Rule Book does use the phrase "may not" quite a bit in this context, so I concede. Now I just hope my headache goes away.
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