Is using “maybe” in combination with a conjugation of “to be” bad style?

Question

I've read this answer about the difference between “maybe” and “may be”. It contains the sentence “maybe he is in the office today” as a correct example.

In the above example “maybe” and “is” is separated by “he”, but when that's not the case I feel it is a bit weird:

“... as this maybe is an interesting subject”

Is it bad form to place a conjugation of “to be” after “maybe”? Is it better to use a synonym like “possibly”?

It's not wrong to use to be with maybe. I would change the position of this. Maybe this is an interesting subject. — David M, Mar 24 '14 at 19:25
Maybe can occur in most of the usual adverbial niches; though since it usually has a scope over the entire clause, it's most common at the beginning or end. — John Lawler, Mar 24 '14 at 19:29
Could you maybe be a bit more specific about why you think this sentence is "weird"? — FumbleFingers, Mar 24 '14 at 19:30
@FumbleFingers Hard to explain. I feel that maybe is is a repetition. The be of maybe is right next to the form of be (is in this case). Changing the order solves this, so I'll just do that from now on. — Saaru Lindestøkke, Mar 24 '14 at 19:32
Coupling 'maybe' with 'be' itself in a string sounds a little unnatural to my ears: ? He will maybe be coming on Friday. A pair of commas helps, as does a switch to 'perhaps'. — Edwin Ashworth, Mar 24 '14 at 19:33
@ Bart: What can I say? If we're to believe Google Books, 14,500 writers will maybe be interested in knowing where they're going wrong. — FumbleFingers, Mar 24 '14 at 19:34
I didn't think of searching Google Books, that's quite clever. However, when something is done often it doesn't make it right, hence I asked the question here. — Saaru Lindestøkke, Mar 24 '14 at 19:36
What, if anything, is the difference in meaning between 'This maybe is an interesting subject', and 'This may be an interesting subject'? — WS2, Mar 24 '14 at 20:02
@Edwin: But apparently 156M prefer might be, and 212M prefer could be. The mere fact of being "less popular" than an alternative doesn't make a usage "wrong". I think this question is essentially POB. — FumbleFingers, Mar 24 '14 at 22:27

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 25 '14 at 11:57

The reason "maybe" sounds awkward when followed by "be" or "is" or similar is that we semi-consciously perceive that the "maybe" wasn't needed in the first place. Your first example, "maybe he is in the office today”, is colloquial, but it would be more economical to say, "he may be in the office today". In the other case, "This maybe is an interesting subject", you can't even give it the blessing of being colloquial. It would sound clumsy to anyone. Much better to say, "This may be an interesting subject".

For reasons best know to themselves they have deleted my post, which as you pointed out says almost exactly the same as yours, preceding it by 14 hours. But never mind, such is all part of life's rich pattern. — WS2, Mar 25 '14 at 13:31

Is using “maybe” in combination with a conjugation of “to be” bad style?

1 Answers1