Learn English – Sentence starting with Maybe as question

questions

Is it correct to use a sentence starting with Maybe as a question, eq.

Maybe I'll come sometime on Sunday?

Maybe I can help you?

I suspect it is acceptable form for spoken informal context but not sure.

Best Answer

Whether or not it's "grammatically correct", at least here in the US, people say this kind of thing all the time. Something like:

Maybe I'll come by next Saturday?

is definitely a question, one that is asking for permission or approval. Asking:

Maybe I can help you?

is the same as asking "Can I help you?" but with more uncertainty whether you want or need my help.

That being said, you shouldn't confuse this with the "rhetorical question" structure that is a statement:

Maybe you should have gone to the bathroom before we left the house?

This is not a question, but a statement saying "It would have been a good idea if you had ..." Similarly:

Don't you think it would have been good to go to the bathroom before leaving the house?

Prefacing a question with "maybe" is informal, and is more common in certain cultures and dialects than others, so I would be careful using it -- especially since the regular question structure is always acceptable.