Everyday grammar – ‘may’ and ‘might’

Students of English will already be familiar with the modal verbs. They will already know that, for example, they have no infinitive form but that they belong to other verbs, in the case of ‘may’ and ‘might’, the verb ‘to be able’, and that they express not a simple action or state, but a ‘mood’, hence the name ‘modal’. Students often, and understandably, have some difficulty with the application of these two modal verbs.  True, they are very closely connected in terms of meaning, and often interchangeable, but there are, for advanced learners of the languages, some subtle differences which are worth getting to know. Let’s have a look;

We use ‘may’:

– on occasions when we are not certain about something in either the present or the future.

• Susan may be visiting us at the weekend (Perhaps Susan will visit us at the weekend).
• You haven’t revised for your exam. You may fail (Perhaps you will fail the exam).
• She hasn’t eaten all day. She may be hungry (Perhaps she is hungry).

 

– to ask for permission formally (usually only used in the first person singular or plural):

• May I take this unoccupied chair? (Do you permit me to take it?).
• May we join you for dinner? (Do you permit us to join you?).

 

– to give permission formally:

• You may go in (I permit you to go in).
• You may open my file if you wish (I permit you to open it).
• Members may invite one friend (They are permitted to do so).

 

We can use may not to say that permission is not given, but it is both formal and emphatic:

• You may not drink alcohol until you are eighteen (We do not permit it now)
• Visitors may not feed the animals (It is not allowed).

 

We use ‘might’ to talk about a possibility (but not a certainty) in the present or future:

• I might go there next week (It’s a possibility but I’m not sure).
• The dress looks long enough, but it might be too tight (It is possibly too tight but I don’t know for certain).
• She’s quite cheerful today. She might not shout at you! (I can’t promise that she won’t, it’s a possibility).

 

We also use ‘might’:

– as the past tense of ‘may’ for polite requests:

• He asked if he might take her to dinner.
• We wanted to ask if we might join the discussion.

– as a very polite way of asking for permission:

• Might we come to the party too?
• Might I just ask one question?

 

We use ‘may have’ and ‘might have’ to make assumptions about the past:

• He hasn’t arrived yet. His car may have broken down.
• I ordered it two days ago; It might have arrived by now.

 

I hope that this has helped to explain the similarities and differences between these two modal verbs but if you would like to discuss them more, you ‘might’ want to contact me for a chat or a one-to-one lesson!

If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please ‘like’ it and share it with your friends and colleagues, and if you know anyone who might be interested in my online one-to-one lessons, please do ask them to contact me to discuss how I can help them to excel in English. 

Thank you,

Martin