Unit 30: MAY AND MIGHT
May and might are modal verbs. Unit 27 shows you how to make correct sentences with them. This unit shows you when to use them.
Possibility
NOW
EXAMPLE: I don't know where John is but he might be helping Peter.
NOTICE: The Canadian winter may be very cold. = this winter
BUT: The Canadian winter can be very cold. = generally
FUTURE
EXAMPLE: Gas prices might fall again soon.
NOTICE: also may
PAST
EXAMPLE: I think you may have caught a cold.
NOTICE: also might; also could (Unit 29)
Permission
STATEMENT
EXAMPLE: Visitors may enter the museum from 9:00 to 5:00 each day.
REQUEST
EXAMPLES:
May I come in?
May we think about it for a few days?
NOTICE: May only; do NOT use might
NOTICE: more polite than can (Unit 28) or could (Unit 29)
Might with past tense
We use might (NOT may) in sentences with a past tense verb before the modal (Unit 63).
EXAMPLES:
I thought the road might be blocked so I went another way.
He told me that the next winter in Canada might be very cold.