Timeline for Simple past tense of "may"
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 13, 2022 at 18:01 | comment | added | m.a.a. | Grammar books targeted at foreign learners are hardly exhaustive. Sure, phrases like He might ask questions or The volcano might still be active do most definitely NOT refer to the past. But there's more to it. Speaking about the past from a present standpoint is not the same as speaking about the past in the context of a narration, which seems to be the case in the example you've provided... I'll leave the details to the natives... | |
| Nov 13, 2022 at 17:49 | answer | added | Mohammad Farukh Ahmad | timeline score: -1 | |
| Nov 13, 2022 at 16:12 | comment | added | Stuart F | You need to distinguish the different meanings of "might", work out what you want to say, and then see if "might" is appropriate. Auxiliary verbs are challenging, but if you work out exactly what you are trying to say (and not trying to say), then you can choose an appropriate one. (Getting the auxiliary that is most idiomatically appropriate is harder, but people differ a lot, so it is less important.) | |
| Nov 12, 2022 at 22:02 | answer | added | Humboles | timeline score: 1 | |
| Feb 27, 2019 at 17:14 | answer | added | Tuffy | timeline score: 2 | |
| Feb 27, 2019 at 16:54 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | Which grammar books and style guides say that? I have always used might as the past tense of may, and I believe this was explicitly taught in whatever grammar books we used when I was in school. Of course, some would argue that all the modal verbs are non-inflectional so may/might, will/would, can/could, shall/should, etc., are all internally unrelated; they would naturally disagree. But not everyone agrees with this view (I do not, for one). | |
| Feb 27, 2019 at 16:43 | comment | added | Kate Bunting | My personal opinion is that it is used correctly. | |
| Feb 27, 2019 at 16:29 | history | asked | Barouche | CC BY-SA 4.0 |