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Be careful so that you are not be caught by the police.

The above sentence is from an error correction exercise of my book. The book suggests to change are to may

Be careful so that you may not be caught by the police.

but another correction sounds fine to me which is to omit be from the sentence.

Be careful so that you are not caught by the police.

Which of the two corrections is correct/better one?

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  • It requires 'be caught' or 'don't get caught.' 'Not caught' seems down to me.
    – Maulik V
    Commented Sep 7, 2017 at 5:58
  • Be careful so you are not caught by the police is acceptable and sounds the best.
    – green_ideas
    Commented Sep 8, 2017 at 3:30

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Either correction works. However, the latter ("are not") is more precise and certain. The verb "may" in this sense expresses probability, and while the modifier "not" conveys that there literally is no probability, it still sounds a little uncertain.

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