may have used to

MikeyC   Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:27 pm GMT
Hello

Is "may have used to" a standard form?

e.g.

"Well, he may have used to live in Africa, but it doesn't naturally follow that he understands African ways."
guessed   Wed Jul 01, 2009 12:31 am GMT
It's probably better to say:

"Well, maybe he used to live in Africa, but it doesn't naturally follow that he understands African ways."

or

"Well, he may have [once] lived in Africa, but it doesn't naturally follow that he understands African ways."

It's unclear that "may have used to" is positively wrong, though.
Insomnia   Wed Jul 01, 2009 12:55 am GMT
It's a completely normal sentence. If I read that somewhere it would not draw my attention in the slightest.
guest   Wed Jul 01, 2009 12:57 am GMT
You can say, "He might used to have lived" but it's got a familar sound to it

That's how leed talk around where I won
Kitsch   Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:33 pm GMT
I think "Well, he might have lived in Africa, but it doesn't naturally follow that he understands African ways" would be acceptable as well and sounds the most natural. "Might" implies the may or may not aspect of the action "live" and the tense inherently implies that the action happened and was completed in the past.
Caspian   Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:42 pm GMT
<< That's how leed talk around where I won >>

I don't understand - what do you mean by 'leed'? And what did you win?
Guest   Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:51 pm GMT
Oi, Caspian: I'm disappointed in you.
You don't even recognize an English word like "won"?
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=won&gwp=16
Another Guest   Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:07 am GMT
I think that the issue is that you have three modal verbs, for a total of four verbs in one verb phrase, which is verging on excessive. But opinions will vary as to whether that's a problem.
Troooooth   Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:16 am GMT
People need to stop misleading foreigners. I mean, that sentence may not win the Nobel Prize for elegance, but it is a standard everyday sentence which you could read anywhere written by anyone.
Fizz   Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:31 am GMT
<I think that the issue is that you have three modal verbs>

Three? How so?
Another Guest   Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:22 pm GMT
May, have, used
MikeyC   Fri Jul 03, 2009 7:42 am GMT
Is "have" a modal verb, AG? Where did you hear that?
Another Guest   Fri Jul 03, 2009 6:27 pm GMT
Of course it's a modal verb. Check any dictionary. From answers.com :

v.aux.
Used with a past participle to form the present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect tenses indicating completed action: The troublemaker has gone for good. I regretted that I had lost my temper. They will have finished by the time we arrive.
MikeyC   Sun Jul 05, 2009 7:55 am GMT
Do you know the difference between an auxiliary and a modal auxiliary, AG?
Fizz   Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:30 pm GMT
Looks like Another Guest has escaped questioning again.