Page 353 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

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- He may/might not have understood. (= Perhaps he did not understand.)
He can't/couldn't have understood. (= He certainly did not understand.)
maybe and perhaps
These two words mean the same. They are both common. In British English, perhaps is used more often than maybe in a formal style.
Maybe/Perhaps it'll stop raining soon.
Julius Caesar is perhaps the greatest ofShakespeare's early plays. Perhaps is often pronounced 'praps' by British people.
meals
There are regional and social differences in the names for meals.
British usage
midday: dinner or lunch
The midday meal is often called dinner, especially if it is the main meal of the
day. People who are 'higher' in the social scale usually call it lunch. afternoon: tea
Some people have a light meal of tea and biscuits or cakes, called tea, at four or five o'clock in the afternoon.
early evening: (high) tea or supper
Many people have a cooked meal around five or six o'clock. This is often called
tea or high tea; some people call it supper. later evening: supper or dinner
A meal later in the evening is often called supper (and some people use the same word for a bedtime snack). Some people use dinner for the evening meal if it is the main meal of the day. A more formal evening meal with guests, or in a restaurant, is usually called dinner.
American usage
Americans generally use lunch for the midday meal and dinner or supper for the evening meal. However in rural areas it is still common for the main meal of the day to be eaten at midday and called 'dinner', with the evening meal being called 'supper'. Celebration meals at Christmas and Thanksgiving are called ChristmasiThanksgiving dinner, even if they are eaten at midday.
348 mean
1 questions
Note the structure of questions with mean.
Excuse me. What does 'hermetic' mean? (NOT Ylhdt rnettrl:9 'ht:rrnetie'7) •
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