Wednesday, October 16, 2013

may, might, may have and might have

We make questions by putting the subject after may/might:
May I …? Could I … Might I …? Etc.
The negative forms are may not and might not..
We use may:
  • when we are not sure about something:
Jack may be coming to see us tomorrow.
Oh dear! It’s half past ten. We may be late for the meeting.
There may not be very many people there.
  • to make polite requests:
May I borrow the car tomorrow?
May we come a bit later?
When we use may not for a refusal it is emphatic:
You may not!
You may not borrow the car until you can be more careful with it.
We use might:
• when we are not sure about something:
might see you tomorrow.
It looks nice, but it might be very expensive.
It’s quite bright. It might not rain today.
• As the past tense of may for requests:
He asked if he might borrow the car.
They wanted to know if they might come later.
• For very polite requests:
Might I ask you a question?
Might we just interrupt for a moment?
We use may have and might have to show that something has possibly happened now or happened at some time in the past:
It’s ten o’clock. They might have arrived now.[= Perhaps they have arrived]
They may have arrived hours ago. [= Perhaps they arrived hours ago.]

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