[ErisDS]

Back in the good old days of my computer science degree we had "skills for communicating information" classes.
They were kinda like grammar lessons but a lot more fun because the topics ranged from where and where not to use an apostrophe, all the way to communications and noise theory

The lecturer was a complete legend, and used to rant on and on (and on) about how people misuse the word "myself".
Blatantly, "misusing myself" descended into a whole lotta jokes

Anyway, the other thing (apart from apostrophes, which I think I cracked) that he used to go on about was the difference between "might" and "may".

Needless to say, with all the misusing myself, I can't remember what it was . Anyone care to enlighten me?

[J.P]

I see what your getting at, is it not something to do with the tense's of the words. Such as might is in the future rather than may is in the present.

Im not sure!

[rjdejong]

Hmm lol google and theres a lot of discussion even on this subject found document that pretty much discribes it

http://www.miguelmll...grammar/may.pdf

[wizely]

'May' and 'might' are things called 'modal auxiliaries' which is a poncy term for 'changey words'. What they do is make slight changes to the meaning of other words (the poncy term is 'grammatical mood'). It's all the 'little' words in English that allow us to tweak the intricate subtelties of a sentence.

With these kinds of words (as with all 'little' words) their use is subtle, blurred and has, over centuries, got muddled.

'Might' is sort of the past-tense of 'may' but, the two are pretty much interchangeable and tend to get used in all tenses.

'Might' is a little more uncertain than 'may' and 'may' carries the implication of permission.

To me, because 'may' gets used to ask for permission, it is more passive and puts the decision as to whether something will or won't take place outside of the control of the person saying it. e.g.

"I might go to the pub".... then again I might not.

"I may go to the pub"... if you are going.


Most of the differences in use are just down to modern tastes:

"Ck me" - kids today.
"Give me cake." - kids 5 years ago
"Can I have some cake?" - kids 10 years ago
"May I have some cake?" - kids 20 years ago
"Might I have some cake?" - kids 40 years ago
"Might one partake in cake?" - kids 80 years ago
"I don't want to go up that chimney" - kids 160 years ago

[headcoat]

wizely, on Jun 3 2008, 23:21, said:

"Might one partake in cake?" - kids 80 years ago
"I don't want to go up that chimney" - kids 160 years ago

Falls off the chair laughing.

So true, so true.

Comedy and almost polemic at the same time.

[headcoat]

wizely, on Jun 3 2008, 23:21, said:

"Ck me" - kids today.



"I don't want to go up that chimney" - kids 160 years ago

First and last quotes, did one beget the other I wonder?

[Alice D]

I read about this in the Penguin Guide to Plain English (really good read for pedants!). The rule of thumb is 'may' should be used to indicate the future and 'might' to indicate the past.

'I may go and take a look'
'I might have taken a look (if the shop had been open)'

But agree with wizely - it's much more freely used nowadays and it add implications to the sentence it's in, so looks like it's down to context.