USE OF MAY AND MIGHT

USE OF MAY AND MIGHT:

May and might do not have common negative contractions, although mightn't can occur in asking questions.Both forms can be used to express a present time possibility or uncertainty. Might can also be used in this sense with no past time meaning.

May

We can use 'may' to ask for permission. However this is rather formal and not used very often in modern spoken English. May is also used to express irrelevance in spite of certain or likely truth:"He may be taller than I am, but he is certainly not stronger"

• May I borrow your pen?
• May we think about it?
• May I go now?

We use 'may' to suggest something is possible

• It may rain later today.
• I may not have time to do it today.
• Pete may come with us

Might

We use 'might' to suggest a small possibility of something. Often we read that 'might' suggests a smaller possibility than 'may', there is in fact little difference and 'might is more usual than 'may' in spoken English.

• She might be at home by now but it's not sure at all.
• It might rain this afternoon.
• I might not have time to go to the shops for you.
• I might not go.

For the past, we use 'might have'.

• He might have tried to call while I was out.
• I might have dropped it in the street.

Might Is the Past Tense of May

There are two exceptions to this rule.

First, might is the past tense of may. So you have to use might when you are referring to the past. For example, even if it's likely that Susan went to a party last night, Peter shouldn't say, “Susan may have gone to the party’; he should say, “Susan might have gone to the party.”

The second exception is when you're talking about something not happening, it can be better to use might because people could think you're talking about permission if you use may. This is clearer with an example. If you aren't sure whether you'll go to the party, and you say, "We may not go to the party," it can be misinterpreted to mean you don't have permission to go to the party, particularly in writing, where voice inflections don't help guide the meaning. But if you say, "We might not go to the party," then your meaning is clear. It's the safer bet.

May or might can be used in the first person to express that future actions are being considered. "I may/might go to the mall later" means that the speaker is thinking about going to the mall; as such it means the same thing as maybe will.

2. Expressing permission

May and might can indicate permission and mild permission respectively: "You may go now", "You might go now if you feel like it." May or might can be used in a question to ask for permission. One who is saying "May I use your phone?” is asking for permission to use the phone of the person being spoken to. In both cases the preterite form is viewed as more hesitant or polite.

Similarly, we can use the modal auxiliaries may or might to say that there is a chance that something is true or may happen. May and might are used to talk about present or future events. They can normally be used interchangeably, although might may suggest a smaller chance of something happening. I may go into town tomorrow for the Christmas sales. And James might come with me! Might has a higher degree of politeness than may. For example, might I express my opinion? conveys less insistence than may I express my opinion?

Comparison:

• What are you doing over the New Year, Ann? ~ Oh, I may go to Scotland, but there again, I might stay at home.
• If you go to bed early tonight, you may / might feel better tomorrow.
• If you went to bed early tonight, you might feel better tomorrow.

Expressing a possibility

Nowadays, the word “may”, as an auxiliary verb, is still widely used to denote permission.  However, it is also employed as an auxiliary that indicates likelihood or a possibility.  ”May”, after all, is the source word of “maybe”, a word that’s all about possibility.  In the English language, “may” is always attached to a verb to show that the action can happen.

“Might,” on the other hand, is often treated as a slightly weaker form of “may”.  The fact that “You might have a shot at this year’s tournament” is less likely (but is still a possibility) than the reality that “You may join the contest.”

As such, in most modern texts, “may” is used to imply a good probability for the action while “might” typically stands for a more unlike possibility.  Both words can be used in either present or past tense, although some authors still prefer to use “might” when writing in the past tense.

Idea showing possibility:

We may call a meeting next week; We might call a meeting next week.

The two forms are basically interchangeable, although the less likely the possibility, the more appropriate it is to use might:

We might call a meeting next week, although the chairman won't be available.

Saying we might go to the trade fair means that the likelihood of going is somewhat less than if you say we may go to the trade fair – although the difference is very subtle.

Similarly, might can be used to express doubt when a possibility is extremely remote:

If you can submit enough evidence, you might be able to win the case.