CHENNAI: What is the difference between ‘may’ and ‘might’? Are these words interchangeable? Can the terms ‘may have’ and ‘might have’ be used interchangeably? (Sheela, Chennai)
For learners of English as a foreign language, using ‘may’ or ‘might’ can be quite confusing especially when they try to know the difference in usage of the two modal verbs. One of the reasons for confusion is that they have been taught that ‘might’ is the past tense of ‘may’ and, as a result, they fail to notice the usage of these two terms. Look at these examples:
1. A) Clara may visit us this evening.
B) Clara might visit us this evening.
2. A) It may rain this evening.
B) It might rain this evening.
In the sentences above, ‘might’ is not used as the past form of ‘may’. Both ‘may’ and ‘might’ convey the idea of possibility. Though they can be used interchangeably, ‘might’ expresses less likelihood than ‘may’. ‘Might’, the past tense of ‘may’, is used in the indirect speech: He said, “I may visit New Jersey in June”. He said that he might visit New Jersey in June.
According to traditional grammarians, the present form ‘may’ should be used when talking about a current situation and the past form ‘might’ should be used when talking about an event that happened in the past:
• Dr Gomez may accept your invitation if he is free (present tense)
• The Principal’s secretary might have prepared the convocation address (past tense)
In modern English, the distinction between ‘may’ and ‘might’ is not made and they can be used interchangeably:
• Dr Gomez might accept your invitation if he is free (present tense)
• The Principal’s secretary may have prepared the convocation address (past tense)
As the terms ‘may have’ and ‘might have’ express the same levels of possibility or probability of some action taking place and convey almost the same meaning, they are used interchangeably. Here are more examples from the British National Corpus:
• Senior staff may have encountered a similar situation before and can contribute their experience to the discussion.
• It would be futile to speculate what might have been achieved had these two separate teams felt able to cooperate.
In the sentences above, ‘may have’ and ‘might have’ are interchangeable. According to www.oxforddictionaries.com, there is a distinction between ‘may have’ and ‘might have’ in certain contexts. If the truth of a situation is still not known at the time of speaking or writing, either of the two is acceptable as in the following examples:
• By the time you read this, he may have made his decision.
• I think that comment might have offended some people.
If the event or situation referred to did not in fact occur, it’s better to use might have:
• The draw against Italy might have been a turning point, but it didn’t turn out like that.
The term ‘may’ has different uses. It is used to ask and give permission in interrogative sentences but the past form ‘might’ cannot be used when expressing permission to do something. The denial of permission is expressed by using ‘cannot’ and not ‘may not’.
• May I borrow your pen?
• Yes, you may use the pen.
• No, you cannot use the pen.
— rayanal@yahoo.co.uk