- Tom has good reason to be angry.
- Tom may well be angry.
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Taro
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1Your textbook may be poor quality. 'Tom has good reason to be angry' and 'Tom may well be angry' do not mean the same thing. – Michael Harvey Dec 19 '21 at 12:39
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@MichaelWokeHarvey Do you imply that 'a' is missing from 1.? – Taro Dec 19 '21 at 13:00
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No, I mean that 'may well' does not only mean what your book says. – Michael Harvey Dec 19 '21 at 13:02
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2"Has a good reason" means that he has one specific reason. – Kate Bunting Dec 19 '21 at 13:25
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'Reason' used as a mass (non-count) noun can mean justification, or good and obvious cause to do or feel something. 'Good' may precede the noun to strengthen the statement.
Reason
1.1 mass noun
Good or obvious cause to do something.
*we have [good] reason to celebrate
'May well be' usually means 'is very probably'. The 'has good reason to be' meaning is, perhaps, a little -old-fashioned. One may see an inversion: 'Well may he be angry', which avoids the ambiguity.
Michael Harvey
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'Rare and archaic'?? This Ngram shows that its use has declined since the late 19th century, but it's still going strong. – Kate Bunting Dec 19 '21 at 13:24
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OK, thanks. (I certainly use it, but I suppose I'm 'a little old-fashioned'!) – Kate Bunting Dec 19 '21 at 13:39
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@KateBunting - I don't know if I count as 'old-fashioned', but I am aware of, and often employ, usages that were coined before about 2010 AD. – Michael Harvey Dec 19 '21 at 13:53
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@MichaelWokeHarvey So does "well may one do" means it is natural for one to do something? – Taro Dec 19 '21 at 14:04
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1In the context of *having [a] good reason to [say, do, or think something], including the article has only recently started to become more common (more common that it was; it's always been and remains much less common than not* including the article). – FumbleFingers Dec 19 '21 at 15:59