How do you know which to say? Do both words mean the same?
“May” indicates whether or not he is allowed to do it or whether or not he chooses to do it.
“Might” indicates whether or not it is possible for him to do it, or whether or not he chooses to do it.
Reminds me of my schooldays; “MAY I” not “can I” “Of course you CAN do it, but whether you may or not is up to me.”
I would say:
‘May’ indicates whether it is permissible for him to do it
‘Can’ indicates whether he is capable of doing it
‘Might’ indicates whether it is probable that he will do it
There’s considerable blurring of these in the real world though. The only common one I find truly jarring is “Only food purchased here can be consumed here”, and I’m probably on the losing side of this concern.
I have found that when trying to be understood in other countries where English is not the primary language, the distinction is often perceived as more strict, leading to:
Mangetout: Please can I have one of those cakes?
***Patissiere: ***Yes, you can.
<awkward silence>
Yeah, my own usage sticks to this, but practically no one else’s does.
Also, I guess ‘will’ should indicate whether he wants to do it, but I think that’s already merged with ‘might’.
I’m no expert, but I think that – if we’re retaining the conditional mood of “may” and “might” – then whether he wants to would be indicated by “would” rather than “will”.
This is the most dryly accurate answer. The meaning of a word is determined by how people use it, and that changes over time. I still draw a small distinction between may and might, but since the rest of the world can’t be relied upon to use my definitions, I always ask what someone really means, when in any doubt.
In general, I have observed that when someone is asking a question and may is the first word, that “may” tends to mean something related to permission, but when making a statement, it tends to mean “possibly.” But those are general tendencies, and IRL you can’t count on anything.
Language shifts with the time. I use ‘may’ for a request but all my acquaintances use ‘can’. No one raises an eyebrow at my usage - yet - but I suspect that it is beginning to sound old fashioned.
As to the original question, I think that the distinction described above is still valid. We have come a long way from “Thou shalt not shag you neighbour’s squeeze” (or his ass)
I think I agree, although using ‘would’ to indicate intent nowadays probably seems very archaic. If I say “He would do it”, half the audience is waiting for “…but he can’t”
In the other half of understood contexts, it probably means the same as ‘can’ - i.e:
“I need someone to paint my house”
“Bob would do that for you”
In the apparent context of the OP, “he may do it” indicates he’s somewhat more likely to do it than “he might do it.” And of course, it being language, not everyone follows this, but when followed it can provide a useful distinction between the two words.
Damn I love English. :rolleyes:
It gets worse in past tenses, because “might” works on its own as the simple past tense of “may”:
“He might do it” = “He had permission to do it”
“He might have done it” = “It was possible for him to do it but he didn’t”
“He may have done it” = “It was possible for him to do it, but we don’t know whether he did or not”.
‘May’ and ‘might’ overlap in intent and either can be used in many circumstances. It may be difficult to determine which is most appropriate so I might use either.
“May” implies permission (You may open the door at 9:00). “Might” implies willingness to do something (I may open the door at 9:00, but I might wait until 9:30).
‘May’ is not just permission, it expresses feasibility, or perhaps you could call that permission from the laws of physics, thermodynamics, etc. You may fall down the stairs, you can’t sensibly say you may fall up the stairs.
Yeah, it varies. In my and my peers usage, when using “may” to indicate possibility instead of permission, there’s no difference in level of intent that I can tell.
In addition to ability and permission, the words may, might and could all express probability.
*
It may/might/could rain.
- There’s no difference among the three, although in some cases and to keep things clear, might can be used as the past tense of may.
He says it may rain. / He said it might rain.
The cat is staring at the bird, and I think he may pounce on it.
I think any reasonable person would read this without ambiguity that there is a possibility that the cat will take action of his own volition, without waiting for anyone’s permission.
In Arkansas dialect (possibly others) one joyfully hears what to many of us would be a redundant combination of *two *of these three:
He might could drive me to work today, if his car starts.
(See also might should.)