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Laborious Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

use of "may have" and "might have" in third conditional sentences

Hi there teachers, 

Could someone please explain to me the difference between the following sentences? 

Here are the sentences:

1). If she had known she would fail, she may have studied more.

2). If she had known she would fail, she might have studied more.

Thank you all.  
  

Top answer

Generally, 'may' and 'might' are synonymous, but 'may' is seldom used in past tense contexts. So, while there is no difference in meaning, because of "had known", 1) sounds wrong, at least to me. CJ

— CalifJim

  • Generally, 'may' and 'might' are synonymous, but 'may' is seldom used in past tense contexts.
  • So, while there is no difference in meaning, because of "had known", 1) sounds wrong, at least to me.
  • CJ
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4 Answers
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Generally, 'may' and 'might' are synonymous, but 'may' is seldom used in past tense contexts.

So, while there is no difference in meaning, because of "had known", 1) sounds wrong, at least to me.
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As was, I think, mentioned recently in another thread, "may" can be understood to imply uncertainty about what happened, in which case it would be deemed incorrect in your sentence.
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Thank you very much, CJ and GPY, for responding to my questions.
LaboriousIf she had known she would fail, she might have studied more.
That means that she didn't know she would fail, or it would have been possible for her to study more. The action of her studying more didn't really happen. Please tell me if my interpretation of the sentence is correct or not.
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LaboriousThat means that she didn't know she would fail, or it would have been possible for her to study more. The action of her studying more didn't really happen. Please tell me if my interpretation of the sentence is correct or not.
I think you've got the main point.

Did she know that she was going to fail? No.
Did she study more? No, because
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