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彼はもう英語を教えるまい。 (Most probably, he won't teach English any more.) I got this sentence from this thread. もう doesn't seem necessary to use or have. Isn't the meaning the same if it was like this: 彼は英語を教えるまい。?

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Do you think "He won't teach English." and "He won't teach English any more" are the same? – sawa Apr 26 '12 at 16:32
As noted below, my understanding of もう was lacking. – dotnetN00b Apr 26 '12 at 17:17
For the record, ジョン was absolutely correct. – dotnetN00b Apr 26 '12 at 22:08

1 Answer

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In this case もう gives the meaning "any more". Without it, the sentence would mean:
"He probably doesn't teach English".

Note that 教えるまい has the same meaning as 教えないだろう. The latter form is more commonly used but the former is still used in writing sometimes.

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Oh. I thought it just mean "even" or "still". Such as: He still hasn't found his keys. – dotnetN00b Apr 26 '12 at 14:33
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@dotnetN00b The most common meanings for もう are "already" and "any more". He still hasn't found his keys would be まだ 鍵（かぎ）を見つけていない. Is that what you're thinking of? As for "even", that sounds like yet another word, but without some context I couldn't say what the correct Japanese word would be. – ジョン Apr 26 '12 at 14:35
I think I need to refer back to Genki 1. Maybe I'm remembering wrong... – dotnetN00b Apr 26 '12 at 14:39
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@ジョン "Even" would probably be さえ or すら =) – rintaun Apr 26 '12 at 14:39
@rintaun Yep, or even -ても :) In fact this is the most likely one if we're talking about Genki 1 – ジョン Apr 26 '12 at 14:43
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