May vs. Might

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Yes, hi, this is Brian Cook.

Hiya, Brian, where are you calling from?

Atlanta, Georgia.

Well, hello, Atlanta. What’s on your mind today?

Thank you. I have an issue between two words, the words may and might. And I read a lot of documents at work and often see people using the word may to express a possibility. And I always thought it was being misused and that they should be using the word might. So I went to a dictionary, checked it out, and it turns out that they are, in fact, using it correctly. And I thought may was supposed to be used to express permission as opposed to the word can. So I’m just curious if there is any distinction between the words may and might to express possibility. And if so, what it is, and maybe how they became to mean the exact same thing.

So, Martha, what about the possibilities represented by may and might?

Well, may tends to be used, according to the usage manuals, for the possibility that’s more likely. If something’s more likely, you want to use may. Might is a little bit more doubtful. And you particularly use might if you’re talking about a hypothetical situation that actually didn’t occur. You know, we might have gone to the party, but Grant couldn’t get his act together or something like that.

Right. Right. Okay. That makes a lot of sense to me. And the may and can problem is a whole separate kettle of fish, right?

Right. And I think you pretty well explained that, Brian, that can has to do with ability, physical ability. And may, in that situation, has to do more with permission. You know, you may now kiss the bride.

Right. This is something that comes up a lot, Brian, which is it’s a pretty familiar subject to us. All the style guides treat this. They all have an answer. They don’t 100 percent agree, but I think they will generally all say that in casual speech, which I suspect is not the kind of language you’re using at work in the documents that you’re talking about, the may and might are used interchangeably in casual speech. So in formal documentation, if there’s ever a question about this, that’s a tough one. These minute differences in the degree of possibility between may and might are probably going to slip away from people.

I think it makes a great point. In spoken language, we do sort of confuse those two. But in written language, you’re going to be – well, it’s not confusion. It’s perfectly okay to see them as the same in informal speech. And I’m not talking just informal spoken speech but informal written speech.

Okay. Really?

Yeah, it’s normal and the history of these words is intertwined and overlaid with all kinds of complexities that make the differences almost indistinguishable between the two. I suspect that you’re going to run into difficulties no matter which one you use. There’s going to be somebody who’s going to make a claim against you on may or might depending on which one you use. So if you say may, somebody else is going to prefer might and vice versa.

Does that help, Brian?

It does, yes. I appreciate it, and I won’t just assume that they are saying that they have permission now.

Right, yeah. It’s got nothing to do with permission. The may thing in this case is nothing. It’s a different use of may altogether. It’s nothing to do with permission, all right?

Right. Well, thank you very much.

Thank you, Brian.

Thanks, Brian. Bye-bye.

Have a good day.

You too. Bye-bye.

This is a messy one.

It is a messy one. I think Brian’s situation is interesting. He’s keeping in mind the important distinction between may and can.

Exactly. But unfortunately, it’s clouding his decision that he has to make between may and might, which is a separate decision.

Well said. Can doesn’t come into this at all.

Right. Right. So short version again is may is more likely, might is less so.

We’d love to hear about your linguistic dilemmas, your grammatical questions. Give us a call, 1-877-929-9673. That’s 1-877-WAYWORD. Or send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.

Thank you.