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When we use maybe for a sentence containing "because-clause" or "so-that-clause," does the content in the clause a fact or a speculation?

Or maybe it can be both?

Example 1

Maybe he went home early today because he went home late and made his mother angry the other day.

Is this example correct?

In this example, is the because-clause a fact or speculation the speaker made about why the other person went home early?

Example 2

Maybe he went home early yesterday so that he could study for the test.

Is this example correct?

In this example, is the so-that-clause a fact or speculation the speaker made about why the other person went home early?

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  • because=the reason for something. so that=the result of the previous idea
    – Lambie
    Oct 23, 2022 at 14:24
  • There is no way of knowing. The speaker may know it for a fact that 'he' was reprimanded for being late home the other day, or they may just be guessing.
    – Kate Bunting
    Oct 23, 2022 at 15:06
  • It would help us answer better if we knew how this information would help you. Are you trying to learn about the names of different parts of grammar or semantics, or are you trying to make a clear sentence where one part is speculation and the other part is fact?
    – gotube ♦
    Oct 23, 2022 at 16:45

1 Answer 1

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Grammatically, the word "maybe" applies to the entire sentence, so anything in the sentence could be the speculation. Semantically too, "maybe" makes sense when applied to everything in the sentence.

So, maybe he went home, or maybe it was someone else. Or maybe he went home or maybe he did something different. Maybe he went home early today, or maybe it was some other time. And on and on including every aspect of the "because" clause.

Even the "because" itself could be the speculation while both conjoined clauses are known fact.

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  • 1
    Quite so. There are an awful lot of potential "maybe's" in the cited text. Maybe he went home early today as opposed to going home on time or late today. Or maybe as opposed to going home early yesterday. Syntactically, all options are on the table.
    – FumbleFingers
    Oct 23, 2022 at 17:21

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