Probability IIi- Extra

Task Five
Try to decide whether may or can is missing from the following extracts from New
Scientist:

1. For years, scientists have suggested that Parkinson’s __________ result partly from a
build-up in the body of toxic compounds from food and other sources.

2. Jets of flame from punctured containers of pressurised liquid fuels, such as propane and
butane, __________ cause catastrophic fireballs and explosions in nearby containers in as
little as 90 seconds, new research has shown.

3. Chaos theory reveals that although we __________ have a deep understanding of the
behaviour of things, we __________ still not be able to make reliable predictions.

4. A new cure for fungal infections of the toenail __________ have a bizarre side-effect: it
__________ cause total loss of taste. A Swedish patient described in a recent issue of The
Lancet reported that after taking one tablet of terbinafine daily for six weeks she could no
longer taste salt and bitter substances. In the weeks that followed, her ability to taste first
sourness and then sweetness disappeared as well.

5. They fear that aerosol already in the Northern stratosphere, which came from the
eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in June 1991, __________ cause a dramatic
loss of ozone in the Northern, hemisphere next February or March.

6. Oil-based fuels __________ cause as much contamination as those based on coal.

According to Friends of the Earth, a leak from an underground petrol tank beneath a filling
station in Braintree, Essex, poured more than 170,000 litres of petrol into the soil,
poisoning local wells and finally filling neighbouring houses with petrol fumes.

7. Marine glacial rocks survive in the geological record far better than sequences formed on
land, although it __________ be difficult to tell the two types apart.

8. For the next few decades at least the populations of wild Mauritius kestrel or California
condor - or of the white-tailed sea eagle in Britain - seem unlikely to rise above 100 pairs.
Theory suggests that it __________ be difficult to maintain comfortable genetic variation
within such small numbers.
As mentioned before, ‘might’ is also often used to (describe possibilities and) make
suggestions:

1. Although the author suggests that the booklets might also be used by students to
broaden their knowledge, the cross-referencing will frustrate and distract a student who
does not have access to the full range of units.
2. This paper might have been better in a second volume that dealt with researching the
future.
3. A ribozyme capable of chopping up DNA might form the basis of an antiviral agent.
4. But should these large projects be built at all? Might investment in energy efficiency
programmes be money better spent?
5. How are we to treat animals? The only answer in truth is “it all depends”. A first criterion
might be that the treatment at least has to be considered acceptable to the majority of the
local culture.
6. The Prime Minister should clarify quickly just who is in charge of energy. Perhaps he is.
Or could it be the Cabinet as a whole? Maybe, in the process, he might care to persuade
his colleagues to produce an energy policy, individually or severally.

Note: these days ‘may’ and ‘might’ are often used interchangeably, especially in
informal English.

Might as well (=may as well) can be difficult to understand. Study the following examples:

1. You may have the best site in the world, but if no one visits it, you might as well not
have bothered
2. Salsburg found that, of 19 known human carcinogens, only seven have been shown to
cause cancer when fed to rodents. Given those odds, claims Salsburg, one might as well
flip a coin.
3. The junior minister at the Scottish Office, Allan Stewart, tells me that his role in matters
such as mink in Shetland is no more than that “essentially of a confirming authority”. If
this philosophy prevails, we might as well wave “goodbye” to any idea of a wildlife strategy
in Britain.
4. “In Rondonia there are hundreds of small cultivators in places where the soils are so poor
they have been exhausted and the only solution is to destroy more forests. It is no good
telling these people to stop. You might as well give them a rope to hang themselves.”

Which of these is correct?

If something might as well be true it means:
a) it is a better situation if it is true ...
b) it makes no difference if it is true ...
c) it is a worse situation if it is true ...

“Might as well” sometimes indicates frustration or despair, e.g. in example 2.

KEY
Task 5
1) may 2) can 3) may may 4) can can 5) may 6) can 7) can 8) may
 Might as well: b)
i
Written by T. Johns. Updated 2010, EVG.