Timeline for What is the difference between 'can', 'could', 'may' and 'might'?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 18, 2021 at 16:51 | comment | added | Kaz | @AndySemyonov Late reply! "May we go somewhere more private is more or less directly asking for consent from the other party". "Might we go somewhere more private" is less direct; it's just putting a suggestion into the air. This is because the permission aspect is absent in might; it refers to a possibility. It is not unlike. "would it be possible to go somewhere more private." | |
| Feb 25, 2016 at 10:04 | history | edited | user140086 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Changed past participle to past form
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| Mar 6, 2015 at 17:48 | comment | added | Andy Semyonov | So is there any real difference between may we go somewhere more private and might we go somewhere more private? | |
| Jan 31, 2014 at 17:52 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | In your first sentences, past form, not past participle - modal verbs have no participles, or infinitives. | |
| Jan 15, 2013 at 4:40 | comment | added | Jim | @FumbleFingers- good one. I knew there were some cases I was just drawing a blank. But with respect to Kaz' statement. I still don't see the unconditional. When I flip a coin it may land head ... depending on how it was oriented at the start and the amount and offset of the force applied. Tomorrow you may be run over by a bus, depending on when you step into the street and where the buses are at the time. It's always conditional on something, otherwise it's a certainty. | |
| Jan 15, 2013 at 4:24 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @Kaz: My post was really in response to Jim's comment. The "more deferential" bit, I mean. I know the semantics of my second example are totally different - that was just a throwaway aside, really. But I'd be interested to know whether there's a common perception that might is more "hesitant/deferential" than may in contexts like "Might I trouble you for [whatever]?" | |
| Jan 15, 2013 at 4:11 | comment | added | Kaz | @FumbleFingers Yes, clearly. In might you fancy a beer, the semantics is totally different. The word may cannot even be used there, grammatically, I don't think. And might can hardly be used instead of may in may you live long and prosper. | |
| Jan 15, 2013 at 3:27 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Might I just point out that (facetious usages excepted) I think might there is slightly more "deferential" than may. And you'd normally say "Might you fancy a beer after work?", not may. So that's another "non-interchangeable" context. | |
| Jan 15, 2013 at 3:22 | comment | added | Kaz | If we flip a coin, it may land heads. Tomorrow, I may be run over by a bus. Probability can be conditional, or unconditional. | |
| Jan 15, 2013 at 3:19 | comment | added | Jim | Very nice. How can may state a possibility which is not conditional on anything though? If it's a possibility it has to be conditional on something. Right now I can't think of any usage where may and might (used to denote possibility of occurence) can't be interchanged- there might (may) be one, but I'm coming up empty right now. | |
| Jan 15, 2013 at 1:01 | history | answered | Kaz | CC BY-SA 3.0 |