What's the difference between could and may?

Could


Definition:

  • (imp.) of Can
  • (imp.) Was, should be, or would be, able, capable, or susceptible. Used as an auxiliary, in the past tense or in the conditional present.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) All mutant proteins could associate with troponin I and troponin T to form a troponin complex.
  • (2) First results let us assume that clinically silent TIAs also (in analogy to clinically silent brain infarctions) could be detected and located.
  • (3) This may have significant consequences for people’s health.” However, Prof Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, which funded the work, said medical journals could no longer be relied on to be unbiased.
  • (4) The measure destroyed the Justice Department’s plans to prosecute whatever Guantánamo detainees it could in federal courts.
  • (5) Yet the Tory promise of fiscal rectitude prevailed in England Alexander had been in charge of Labour’s election strategy, but he could not strategise a victory over a 20-year-old Scottish nationalist who has not yet taken her finals.
  • (6) Anti-Leu 7 could not be considered as a specific marker for oligodendroglioma.
  • (7) This bone could not be degraded by human monocytes in vitro as well as control bone (only 54% of control; P less than 0.003).
  • (8) Clinical and roentgenographic criteria could not discriminate between patients with and without pneumonia, confirming the findings of previous investigations.
  • (9) Van Persie's knee injury meant that Mata could work in tandem with the delightfully nimble Kagawa, starting for the first time since 22 January.
  • (10) The small units described here could be inhibitory interneurons which convert the excitatory response of large units into inhibition.
  • (11) Although solely nociresponsive neurons are clearly likely to fill a role in the processing and signalling of pain in the conscious central nervous system, the way in which such useful specificity could be conveyed by multireceptive neurons is difficult to appreciate.
  • (12) No consistent relationship could be found between the time interval from SAH to operation and the severity of vasospasm.
  • (13) A disease in an IgD (lambda) plasmocytoma is described, where after therapy with Alkeran and prednisone a disappearance of all clinical and laboratory findings indicating an activity could be observed.
  • (14) We conclude that only one of the alleles was amplified and that either allele could be amplified with respect to both the SphI and PvuII polymorphisms.
  • (15) Even with hepatic lipase, phospholipid hydrolysis could not deplete VLDL and IDL of sufficient phospholipid molecules to account for the loss of surface phospholipid that accompanies triacylglycerol hydrolysis and decreasing core volume as LDL is formed (or for conversion of HDL2 to HDL3).
  • (16) The secondary leukemia that occurred in these patients could be distinguished from the secondary leukemia that occurs after treatment with alkylating agents by the following: a shorter latency period; a predominance of monocytic or myelomonocytic features; and frequent cytogenetic abnormalities involving 11q23.
  • (17) Mike Ashley told Lee Charnley that maybe he could talk with me last week but I said: ‘Listen, we cannot say too much so I think it’s better if we wait.’ The message Mike Ashley is sending is quite positive, but it was better to talk after we play Tottenham.” Benítez will ask Ashley for written assurances over his transfer budget, control of transfers and other spheres of club autonomy, but can also reassure the owner that the prospect of managing in the second tier holds few fears for him.
  • (18) In addition, KM231 could detect a small amount of the antigen ganglioside in human gastric normal and cancerous mucosa and in gastric cancer cell lines by HPTLC-immunostaining.
  • (19) Measurement of urinary GGT levels represents a means by which proximal tubular disease in equidae could be diagnosed in its developmental stages.
  • (20) PMNs could be primed for PMA-triggered oxidative burst by muramyl peptide molecules (MDP) and two of its adjuvant active nonpyrogenic derivatives.

May


Definition:

  • (v.) An auxiliary verb qualifyng the meaning of another verb, by expressing: (a) Ability, competency, or possibility; -- now oftener expressed by can.
  • (n.) A maiden.
  • (n.) The fifth month of the year, containing thirty-one days.
  • (n.) The early part or springtime of life.
  • (n.) The flowers of the hawthorn; -- so called from their time of blossoming; also, the hawthorn.
  • (n.) The merrymaking of May Day.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The variation in thickness of the LLFL may modulate the species causing damage to the cells below it.
  • (2) These variants may serve as useful gene markers in alcohol research involving animal model studies with inbred strains in mice.
  • (3) Therefore, these findings may extend the use of platelets as neuronal models.
  • (4) Circuit weight training does not exacerbate resting or exercise blood pressure and may have beneficial effects.
  • (5) AEDs may also have differential effects on nighttime sleep.
  • (6) This may have significant consequences for people’s health.” However, Prof Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, which funded the work, said medical journals could no longer be relied on to be unbiased.
  • (7) The results indicated that neuropsychological measures may serve to broaden the concept of intelligence and that a brain-related criterion may contribute to a fuller understanding of its nature.
  • (8) Patients with papillary carcinoma with a good cell-mediated immune response occurred with much lower infiltration of the tumor boundary with lymphocyte whereas the follicular carcinoma less cell-mediated immunity was associated with dense lymphocytic infiltration, suggesting the biological relevance of lymphocytic infiltration may be different for the two histologic variants.
  • (9) The newborn with critical AS typically presents with severe cardiac failure and the infant with moderate failure, whereas children may be asymptomatic.
  • (10) These channels may, at least in some cases, be responsible for the generation of pacemaker depolarizations, thereby regulating firing behaviour.
  • (11) Therefore, it is suggested that PE patients without endogenous erythroid colonies may follow almost the same clinical course as SP patients.
  • (12) Herpesviruses such as EBV, HSV, and human herpes virus-6 (HHV-6) have a marked tropism for cells of the immune system and therefore infection by these viruses may result in alterations of immune functions, leading at times to a state of immunosuppression.
  • (13) We attribute this in part to early diagnosis by computed tomography (CT), but a contributory factor may be earlier referrals from country centres to a paediatric trauma centre and rapid transfer, by air or road, by medical retrieval teams.
  • (14) The process of sequence rearrangement appears to be a significant part of the evolution of the genome and may have a much greater effect on the evolution of the phenotype than sequence alteration by base substitution.
  • (15) Previous attempts to purify this enzyme from the liquid endosperm of kernels of Zea mays (sweet corn) were not entirely successful owing to the lability of partially purified preparations during column chromatography.
  • (16) It is concluded that amlodipine reduces myocardial ischemic injury by mechanism(s) that may involve a reduction in myocardial oxygen demand as well as by positively influencing transmembrane Ca2+ fluxes during ischemia and reperfusion.
  • (17) It is suggested that the Japanese may have lower trabecular bone mineral density than Caucasians but may also have a lower threshold for fracture of the vertebrae.
  • (18) Down and up regulation by peptides may be useful for treatment of cough and prevention of aspiration pneumonia.
  • (19) Our data suggest that a rational use of surveillance cultures and serological tests may aid in an earlier diagnosis of FI in BMT patients.
  • (20) Open field behaviors and isolation-induced aggression were reduced by anxiolytics, at doses which may be within the sedative-hypnotic range.

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