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Believer Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

May and Might

0Hi,02br
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00I think the modals 'may' and 'might' are used in part to indicate a different spectrum of time frames, one to indicate the past of the other. But I feel it may not be that simple and obvious for cases like these. I feel the cases illustrated here demonstrate that they can be used in place of each other with no seemingly real differences:02br
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00In the future, I may/might do this to improve myself.02br
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00Three days ago, I may/might have thought this was the right thing to do.02br
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00I may/might not do this right now. 0-
  

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10 Answers
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0I agree that in your three examples, the two words don't seem to invite different interpretations.02br
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00Could you give examples of the different spectra mentioned in your introduction, and of "one indicating the past of the other"?0-
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1i00may02i00 is ambiguous with 01i00can02i00 in the sense of 01i00be allowed02i00 only in contexts where permission might be implied.02br
01i00I may go now.02i00 I have permission to go now vs. It's possible that I'll go now. 02br
00--- 02br
01i00may not02i00
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0Congratulations again CJ. What a good explanation. Short and clear.0-
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0Hi,02br
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00What I can come up with is this:02br
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00It 01u00might02u00 be the case back then, but now, this is how it works.02br
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00As to CJ's explanation, I might have to take a long look and learn from it.0-
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1i00>It 01u00might02u00 be the case back then, but now, this is how it works.02i02br
00This isn't standard today, IMO. Use:02br
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01i00It 01u00might have been02u00 the case back then, but now, this is how it works.02i0-
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0I just saw the following caption for a photo on Yahoo News: 02br
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00"Some think this strobelight gun 01i00may02i00 have helped the U.S. win WWII sooner." [emphasis added]02br
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00When I read this, I assumed that the strobelight gun was actually used, and that the meaning was "Some people think it is possible that this strobe
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0Hi,02br
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00I agree with you.02br
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00Best wishes, Clive0-
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0I'm with you.0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Anonymous12cite10Does anyone have a different opinion?12blockquote
10 I don't. 01i00might have02i00 frequently has those two interpretations.02br
01i00-- Why is Henry's arm in a sling? -- I saw him trimming a tree yesterday. He might have fallen.02i00 (I
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Believer12cite10I think the modals 'may' and 'might' are used in part to indicate a different spectrum of time frames, one to indicate the past of the other.12blockquote
10 "Might" is the past tense of "may" but in today's English that differenciation has almost completely been lost and now they are usually us
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