may and might: forms, probability, permission

may and might: forms

1 May is a 'modal auxiliary verb' . There is no -s in the third person singular.

• She may be here tomorrow. (NOT She mays . ..)
  

Questions and negatives are made without do.

• May I help you? (NOT Do I may . . .?)

After may, we use the infinitive without to.

• You may be right. (NOT You may to be right.)

2 May has no infinitive or participles. When necessary, we use other words.

• She wants to be allowed to open a bank account.
  (NOT . . . to may open . . .)

3 Might is a less definite' form of may— it does not have a past meaning.
We use both may and might to talk about the present and the future.

4 There is a contracted negative mightn't. (Mayn't is very unusual.)

may and might: probability

1 Chances

We use may and might to say that there is a chance of something: perhaps it is true, or perhaps it will happen.

• We may go climbing in the Alps next summer. (= Perhaps we'll go.)
  


• 'Where's Emma?' 'I don't know. She maybe shopping, I suppose.'
  


• Peter might phone. If he does, could you ask him to ring again later?


• "I might get a job soon.' 'Yes, and pigs might fly. '(= 'It's very unlikely.')

2 Questions

We do not use may in questions about probability.

• Do you think you'll go camping this summer?
  (NOT May you go camping this summer?)

3 might

Might is not the past of may. It is used to talk about a smaller chance than may. Compare:

I may go to London tomorrow. (Perhaps a 50 per cent chance.)

Joe might come with me. (Perhaps a 30 per cent chance.)

4 Conditional

Might (but not may) can have a conditional use.

• If you went to bed for an hour you might feel better.
  (= . . . perhaps you would feel better.)

5 may/might have ...

We use a special structure to talk about the chance that something happened in the past.

may/might have + past participle

• 'Polly's very late.' 'She may have missed her train.'
  


• 'What was that noise?' 'It might have been a cat.'

We can use the same structure (with might only) to say that something was possible, but did not happen.

• That was a bad place to go skiing. You might have broken your leg.

may and might: permission

1 Asking for permission

May and might can be used to ask for permission.
They are more formal than can and could. Might is very polite and formal, and is not common.

• May I put the TV on?
  


• I wonder if I might have a little more cheese?

2 Giving and refusing permission

May is used to give permission. May not is used to refuse permission, and to forbid.

• 'May I put the TV on?' 'Yes, of course you may
  


• 'Students may not use the staff car park.

These are rather formal. In informal language, we prefer can and can't.

3 Talking about permission

We do not usually use may and might to talk about permission which has already been given or refused.
Instead, we use can, could or be allowed to.

• These days, children can do what they like. (NOT . . . may do . . .)
  


• I could read what I liked when I was a child. (NOT I might . . .)