{"id":2204,"date":"2016-05-31T16:43:48","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T22:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=2204"},"modified":"2020-11-25T11:16:49","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T17:16:49","slug":"might-you-mean-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/might-you-mean-may\/","title":{"rendered":"Might You Mean May<\/em>?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is the difference between may<\/em> and might<\/em>? There may have been a clear difference long ago, and there still might be a difference in some sticklers\u2019 minds, but today the two verbs are, with few exceptions, interchangeable.<\/p>\n

Grammarians tell us that might<\/em> is the past tense of may<\/em>, but that fact, while interesting, does not offer much guidance, considering how frequently we use both may<\/em> and might<\/em> to talk about the present (I may\/might be ready to leave now<\/em>) and the future (I may\/might call you tomorrow<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Many scholarly discussions of may<\/em> vs. might<\/em> state that may<\/em> is used when something is more likely to happen, and might<\/em> is used when something is less likely to happen. So when you say I may be ready to leave<\/em>, there is a good chance you are departing, but when you say I might be ready to leave<\/em>, you\u2019d probably prefer to stick around awhile.<\/p>\n

It is remarkable how many authorities, even today, buy into this. In the 2016 revised edition of Garner\u2019s Modern English Usage<\/em>, Bryan A. Garner writes, \u201cMay<\/em> expresses likelihood \u2026 while might<\/em> expresses a stronger sense of doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

We find this assertion baffling, and we are not alone. The online American Heritage dictionary says in a usage note: \u201cIt is sometimes said that might<\/em> suggests a lower probability than may<\/em> \u2026 In practice, however, few people make this distinction.\u201d This echoes what the language scholar John B. Bremner wrote forty years ago: \u201cSome lexicographers see a nuance between may<\/em> and might<\/em> in the context of probability \u2026 If such distinction exists in common language, the distinction is even thinner than nuance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are some exceptions to the interchangeability of may<\/em> and might<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Sometimes might<\/em> means \u201cshould\u201d: You\u2019d think he might be more careful<\/em> means he should<\/em> be more careful. No one who speaks fluent English would substitute may<\/em> for might<\/em> in that sentence.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Most of us choose may<\/em> over might<\/em> in wishful or hopeful statements, such as May they live happily ever after<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 When a hypothetical sentence is set in the past, might<\/em> is usually a better option: If she had worked harder, she might have kept her job<\/em>. But when such sentences are in the present tense, either may<\/em> or might<\/em> can be used: If she works harder, she may\/might be able to keep her job<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 And you will note that the first word in the title of this article could not possibly be \u201cMay.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the difference between may and might? There may have been a clear difference long ago, and there still might be a difference in some sticklers\u2019 minds, but today the two verbs are, with few exceptions, interchangeable. Grammarians tell us that might is the past tense of may, but that fact, while interesting, does […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-definitions","category-effective-writing","category-verbs"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2204"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}