Grammar

Modal verbs may and might

450 fill-in-the-gap exercises in 1 form

For things that are possible but not certain, and for formal permission. Might is the more doubtful of the two.

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Possibility

Both say that something is possible without saying it is certain:

She may be in the garden. She might be in the garden.

The difference is how sure you sound, and it is a matter of degree rather than rule:

• may — a real possibility, perhaps fifty-fifty
• might — a smaller chance, more tentative

Most of the time either is acceptable and no one would correct you. Where the difference matters is in careful writing, where may sounds like a genuine option and might like a long shot.

Could joins the same group with roughly the strength of might.

Permission

May has a second job that might does not share: asking for and granting permission, formally.

• May I come in? — more formal than Can I or Could I
• Visitors may use the library between nine and five. — the language of notices and rules

You will meet this in written regulations far more often than in speech.

The past: may have, might have

To say something was possibly true in the past, add have plus the past participle:

He may have missed the train. She might have forgotten.

Might have is also used for something that nearly happened but did not:

You might have been hurt. — you were not, but you could have been.

The negatives are not symmetrical

May not and might not both mean “possibly not”:

She may not come. — perhaps she will not.

But may not has a second meaning in formal English: not allowed.

Candidates may not use a dictionary. — that is a prohibition.

Context separates them, and the prohibition reading is confined to rules and notices.

Sequence in unreal sentences

After a past or unreal context, might is the form that fits:

I thought it might rain. / If we left now, we might catch it.

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Mistakes to avoid