Asked by Rebecca
is it correct English to say that may this smile last forever
All Answers 1
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
AI
Short answer: Yes — but not with the word "that" in front.
Correct forms:
- "May this smile last forever." — grammatically correct; a formal/poetic wish.
- More everyday: "I hope this smile lasts forever." or "I hope this smile will last forever."
- If addressing someone: "May your smile last forever."
Why: "May + subject + base verb" is a subjunctive/optative construction used to express a wish. Putting "that" directly before "may" ("that may this smile last forever") is incorrect word order. You could say, for example, "I hope that this smile lasts forever," but you wouldn’t use "that" immediately before the inversion "may this…".
Correct forms:
- "May this smile last forever." — grammatically correct; a formal/poetic wish.
- More everyday: "I hope this smile lasts forever." or "I hope this smile will last forever."
- If addressing someone: "May your smile last forever."
Why: "May + subject + base verb" is a subjunctive/optative construction used to express a wish. Putting "that" directly before "may" ("that may this smile last forever") is incorrect word order. You could say, for example, "I hope that this smile lasts forever," but you wouldn’t use "that" immediately before the inversion "may this…".
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