Logical opposite of "will not" and "will"

[hrhyoo]

Hi Powerscore,

I read somewhere that the logical opposite of "will not" is "may not" and I don't see how. Shouldn't it be "may" instead?

What does "may" exactly mean in term of likelihood, 1~100% similar to "some"?
What about "may not"? 0~99% similar to not all?

In my opinion,

Will (100%) <-> may not (0~99%)
Will not (0%) <-> may (1~100%)

Also, this leads me to another question: what is the difference between "could" "could not" and "may" "may not"? Are they the same?

I am having difficulty negating verbs. Please help!

Thanks in advance.


Hanna

[Adam Tyson]

I don't know where you read that about "will not" and "may not", Hanna, but I hope it wasn't one of our books, because you are absolutely correct that the logical opposite of "will not" is "may" (I personally prefer "might" in this case, but that's quibbling). If that WAS in our materials somewhere, please let us know where so we can double-check it, make sure you aren't misunderstanding something, and, if needed, issue a correction (because typos do happen).

I think of it this way - if you say something will not happen, that is a prediction that is 100% certain. How would I respond and negate that? I would say something like "don't be so sure about that - maybe it will happen. It might. It could. It may."

Same thing with "will" - I would respond with "it might not - it's not guaranteed."

For level of certainty, if I had to assign one, I would say that "may" and "might" work like "some" - anything greater than a 0% chance will fit, including a 100% chance. And for "might not" or "may not," that's like a "not all" statement, and means anything less than 100% certainty, all the way down to 0%.

From a strength perspective, "could" and "may" are equal, as they both indicate that there is some possibility greater than 0%. From a semantic perspective, they differ a little. "Could" means something isn't impossible, while "may" tends to mean something is permissible or accepted. They can often be used interchangeably - "I could have fried chicken for dinner" and "I may have fried chicken for dinner" are saying pretty much the same thing, if you aren't too nitpicky about it. But consider a dangerous felon breaking out of prison - that could happen, but you might still say that he may not do so, because while it is possible, it is not allowed (it is against the rules). And getting back to dinner, my cardiologist might tell me that I may not eat fried chicken, but I still could defy him and do it.

[hrhyoo]

Crystal clear, Adam! You rock!

H