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.
For the older Stephanie,
her younger self might as well have been a stranger.
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.
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,
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