may | might + as well – English Grammar Profiler

If you want to make an unenthusiastic suggestion or say you are not enjoying, interested in, or approving of something, then you can use this grammar structure with ‘may as well‘ or ‘might as well‘.

Here are some examples. The first is a student speaking test example:

You might as well just open the door to an unknown person.

TLC female Mexico B2

Expert speaker example:

They may as well choose at random.

(listen to the sentence)

For the older Stephanie,

her younger self might as well have been a stranger.

TED

Here are two C2 points in the English Grammar Profile, in the category of MODALITY that have the exact same definition.

222 ‘MAY AS WELL’

237 ‘MIGHT AS WELL’

to talk about or suggest what we think is the easiest or most logical course of action, often when we cannot see a better alternative.

The English Vocabulary Profile has these at two lower levels too:

might as well = B2 used to suggest doing something, often when there is nothing better to do (their examples all include a following bare infinitive)

might as well do sth = C1 If you may/might as well do something, it will not spoil the situation if you do that thing.

We do an iWeb corpus search for the most common lexical verbs that follow the structure:

may|might as well _VVI

1 MIGHT AS WELL GET 3948 2 MIGHT AS WELL GO 2828 3 MIGHT AS WELL MAKE 2237 4 MIGHT AS WELL USE 1645 5 MIGHT AS WELL TAKE 1501 6 MIGHT AS WELL TRY 1369 7 MIGHT AS WELL GIVE 1361 8 MIGHT AS WELL START 1153 9 MIGHT AS WELL PUT 920 10 MAY AS WELL GET 909 11 MAY AS WELL GO 830 12 MIGHT AS WELL SAY 814 13 MIGHT AS WELL BUY 622 14 MIGHT AS WELL THROW 557 15 MAY AS WELL USE 539 16 MIGHT AS WELL ASK 527 17 MIGHT AS WELL KEEP 507 18 MIGHT AS WELL ENJOY 501 19 MAY AS WELL MAKE 458 20 MIGHT AS WELL CALL 448 21 MIGHT AS WELL ADD 406 22 MAY AS WELL GIVE 392 23 MAY AS WELL TAKE 387 24 MIGHT AS WELL STAY 373 25 MIGHT AS WELL LET 330 26 MIGHT AS WELL SAVE 325 27 MIGHT AS WELL LOOK 317 28 MAY AS WELL TRY 312 29 MIGHT AS WELL TELL 312 30 MIGHT AS WELL STOP 310 31 MIGHT AS WELL LEAVE 296 32 MAY AS WELL START 289

33 MIGHT AS WELL LEARN 278

Well, you might as well learn the hard way.

listen

34 MIGHT AS WELL FORGET 265 35 MAY AS WELL PUT 263 36 MIGHT AS WELL SPEND 263 37 MIGHT AS WELL STICK 260 38 MAY AS WELL SAY 257 39 MIGHT AS WELL SHARE 253 40 MIGHT AS WELL CHECK 250 41 MIGHT AS WELL SEE 243 42 MIGHT AS WELL REPLACE 239 43 MIGHT AS WELL WRITE 226 44 MIGHT AS WELL PLAY 222 45 MIGHT AS WELL WAIT 210 46 MIGHT AS WELL CHANGE 203 47 MAY AS WELL BUY 202 48 MIGHT AS WELL PICK 200 49 MIGHT AS WELL CONSIDER 188 50 MIGHT AS WELL COME 188 51 MIGHT AS WELL FIND 183 52 MIGHT AS WELL TURN 180 53 MAY AS WELL ASK 170 54 MIGHT AS WELL JOIN 167 55 MIGHT AS WELL EAT 165 56 MIGHT AS WELL KNOW 160 57 MIGHT AS WELL TALK 154 58 MIGHT AS WELL PAY 152 59 MIGHT AS WELL BRING 151 60 MIGHT AS WELL WORK 147 61 MIGHT AS WELL SHOW 145 62 MAY AS WELL KEEP 143 63 MIGHT AS WELL KILL 138 64 MIGHT AS WELL MOVE 138 65 MIGHT AS WELL PACK 137 66 MIGHT AS WELL FINISH 135

67 MIGHT AS WELL EMBRACE 134

I‘m not a big fan of spicy food,

but since I‘m in Thailand,

I might as well embrace it and try some.

68 MIGHT AS WELL ACCEPT 132 69 MAY AS WELL THROW 130 70 MIGHT AS WELL RUN 126 71 MIGHT AS WELL LIVE 125 72 MIGHT AS WELL QUIT 125 73 MIGHT AS WELL READ 124 74 MIGHT AS WELL JUMP 122 75 MIGHT AS WELL CONTINUE 122 76 MIGHT AS WELL BUILD 120 77 MIGHT AS WELL GRAB 119 78 MIGHT AS WELL INCLUDE 118 79 MAY AS WELL TELL 114 80 MAY AS WELL ENJOY 114 81 MAY AS WELL STAY 114 82 MIGHT AS WELL MENTION 112 83 MIGHT AS WELL SELL 111 84 MIGHT AS WELL SKIP 108 85 MIGHT AS WELL HANG 105 86 MIGHT AS WELL CLOSE 104 87 MAY AS WELL CALL 104 88 MIGHT AS WELL POST 104 89 MIGHT AS WELL CUT 102 90 MIGHT AS WELL SET 98 91 MIGHT AS WELL SEND 98 92 MIGHT AS WELL REMOVE 98 93 MAY AS WELL LOOK 98 94 MIGHT AS WELL WATCH 98 95 MIGHT AS WELL WEAR 98 96 MAY AS WELL ADD 97 97 MIGHT AS WELL INVEST 96 98 MIGHT AS WELL HELP 96 99 MAY AS WELL REPLACE 94

100 MIGHT AS WELL THINK 92

B1 infinitives: accept, consider, continue, grab, hang, mention, quit, remove, replace, stick B2: invest, skip C1:

embrace