Modal verbs - May/Might
Allow me to start with an anecdote. I remember many times as a child asking my father Can I have an ice cream?; Can I watch television?; Can I get down from the table?. Each time I was happy to hear the answer Yes, you can. - only to be stopped short the next second by the continuation But you may not.
Not many people these days reject the use of can in asking permission, but May I...? certainly sounds politer and is therefore better in some formal situations.
If you have looked at the pages on the other modal verbs, you may expect may to be quite troublesome to use correctly. And you would be right! In the previous paragraph we saw its use in asking permission. And in the the first sentence of this paragraph we see an example of its second common function - in expressing possibility: you may expect.
Quiz
Test your knowledge on may and its associated word might by doing the following quiz questions:
1. Fill in the blanks in the following sentences. In each case you should express the idea of permission to do something:
- As a child I ....... go to bed when I wanted.
- Will I ....... take photos at the museum tomorrow?
- I love ........ to use my parents' car whenever I want.
- As a child I was allowed to go to bed when I wanted.
- Will I be allowed to take photos at the museum tomorrow?
- I love being allowed to use my parents' car whenever I want.
2. Are any of the following sentences not possible?
- May I open the window, please?
- May you open the window, please?
- I may be late tomorrow.
- May I be late tomorrow?
- May you be late tomorrow?
- May you never be late again!
- May I never be late again!
- May I open the window, please? - Correct!
This is a polite request for permission to do something.
- May you open the window, please? - Not possible.
This is a request for someone else to do something. It has to be Would you open... or Could you open... .
- I may be late tomorrow. - Correct!
This means: It is possible that I will be late tomorrow.
- May I be late tomorrow? - Correct!
This is a polite request for permission to be late tomorrow.
- May you be late tomorrow? - Incorrect
The question should be expressed in one of the following ways, depending on what you want to say:
- Do you have permission to be late tomorrow?
- Is it possible that you will be late tomorrow?
- May you never be late again! - Correct!
This is the expression of my hope that you will never be late.
Similarly, the wish May you be late tomorrow! (exclamation mark instead of question mark as above) means I hope that you are late tomorrow.
- May I never be late again! - Unlikely
More likely is: I hope I will never be late again.
3. Why is may used in the first sentence below, but allowed to in the second?
- May I park in your driveway?
- Am I allowed to park here? (said to a friend in your car outside a railway station)
- May I park in your driveway?
- Am I allowed to park here? (said to a friend in your car outside a railway station)
In the first sentence above, may is used, but allowed to in the second. This is because in the first sentence I am asking someone for permission to do something. And in the second sentence I am asking about rules. Here are two more examples:
- May I smoke? - said in someone's house
- Am I allowed to smoke? - asked in a restaurant
4. Are there any problems in these two sentences?
- I mayn't be home till late.
- I mightn't be home till late.
There is a problem in the first sentence. All the other modals and auxiliaries can be combined into one word (e.g. mustn't , oughtn't , haven't etc.).But for some reason we can't do this with may and not .
- I may not ( mayn't ) be home till late.
- I mightn't be home till late.
5. Is there a difference between these sets of two sentences?
- I may be home late tonight.
- I might be home late tonight.
- The doctors told him he may lose his sight.
- The doctors told him he might lose his sight.
If you say may, you think there is a greater chance of being late than if you say might . So:
- I may be home late tonight. (20-50% chance)
- I might be home late tonight. (1-20% chance)
Note: The percentages are to show the relative possibilities expressed by the two words. Don't taken them as exact!
In the second pair of sentences may and might are in reported speech and can be used by careful speakers to convey different meanings:
- The doctors told him he may lose his sight. ( There is still a possibility that he will lose his sight.)
- The doctors told him he might lose his sight. ( He did not lose his sight despite the doctors' fear.)
For many native speakers the distinction would be too subtle and they would interpret the sentences as meaning the same, i.e. he could possibly lose his sight. (See * below.)
6. What is the difference between these two sentences?
- He may not be right.
- He cannot be right.
- He may not be right.
This means there is a possibility that he is not right.
- He cannot be right.
This means that is no possibility that he is right.
7. What does may mean in the following sentences?
- I pray that she may recover from her illness.
- He may be very clever, but he sometimes does stupid things.
- I may as well go home.
- I pray that she may recover from her illness.
In this sentence may means will .
- He may be very clever, but he sometimes does stupid things.
In this sentence may has the function of introducing the second clause beginning with but. Translated it means: Ok, I agree that he is very clever, but... .
- I may as well go home.
The expression may as well gives this sentence the meaning: There is no point in staying - I will go home. Or There is nothing better to do than to go home. Another example is: You may as well tell me - I'm going to find out anyway.
8. What does might mean in the following sentences?
- He might ask if he can use your computer.
- He might ask before he uses my computer!
- He might ask if he can use your computer.
This means that there is a possibility he will ask to use your computer.
- He might ask before he uses my computer!
This implies, thanks to the exclamation mark, that he has used your computer, but without asking, and you are annoyed about this. The stress would be on the word ask. Another example is: You might have told me she's divorced!
9. What are the two meanings of might in the following sentence?
- He might have paid for the computer but he might have asked before reformatting the hard disk.
- He might have paid for the computer but he might have asked before reformatting
the hard disk.
Translated, this sentence means: It is true that he paid for the computer but it would have been good if he had asked before reformatting the hard disk.
* If your brain is addled after these explanations then take comfort in Burchfield, who writes: "I can see how easy it is to confuse the roles of 'may' and 'might' when in some circumstances they are more or less interchangeable."
The New Fowler's Modern English Usage (Oxford, 2004)