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Would you help me out with examining this sentence? Is "That might even could happen" considered incorrect?

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    Related Is “might could” a correct construct
    – Matt E. Эллен
    Commented Sep 11, 2014 at 11:04
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    There is a trend among people who study English, currently, to shy away from sharp categorization of "correct" and "not correct". The contemporary rule of thing is: if your interlocutor understood what you meant, it was "correct" (because, after you spoke, specifically what you wanted to communicate is n his head). With that said, let me buck the descriptivist trend here (it's so mainstream; I'm into this thing called prescriptivism now, though you probably haven't heard of it): no, "that even might could happen" is not correct. Don't use it.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Sep 11, 2014 at 11:04
  • Hello! I appreciate your quick reply! I have read through the related topic, very comprehensive. Wouldn't "even" soften the antagonism? "Might even" and "could happen" are valid connections, aren't they? Thank you
    – foximaxi
    Commented Sep 11, 2014 at 11:23
  • @Dan: In general, I'm not big on the correct/incorrect distinction either. But as the top-rated answer on the original says of this usage, it's restricted to certain dialects of US English. In Standard English, it is not grammatical. This construction is also often stigmatized. My position on this one would be "Don't feel ashamed or obliged to change if you were brought up using it, but don't deliberately adopt it if it's not part of your natural usage".
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 11, 2014 at 13:06

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"may/might" is a modal verb and after modal verbs only a bare infinitive can follow as in: "May/might I help you?" or a bare infinitive perfect as in: He may/might have done it". But a structure such as "may/might + could ( a finite verb form)" is not possible.

I assume you wanted to say "That might have happened".

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  • Thank you. Sort of that is what I meant. Though, it felt as if it hadn't quite do justice to my emotional state. I wished to express strong skepticism.
    – foximaxi
    Commented Sep 11, 2014 at 11:40

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