I come to you with a deep sense of confusion. I read today’s post at the After Deadline blog at the New York Times, and the crux of it is that there is a subtle difference between might and may when they’re expressing possibilities. For instance, compare (1a) and (1b):
(1a) I may build a gravy fountain.
(1b) I might build a gravy fountain.
I’m not sure I see a significant difference between these two sentences. I believe I use may and might more or less interchangeably, and I suspect I use might more than I use may. Then again, maybe I don’t; I was about to write a sentence starting “post-modernists might argue X”, and in that sentence I would definitely, at the present moment, find may a poor substitute. This may be due to my relative certainty in the sentence; I am saying that I suspect that the post-modernists would argue X, not merely that they could argue X. And then, in the sentence I just wrote, I strongly prefer may to might, because I am less sure that the relative certainty is to blame. So, in summary, if there is a sustained difference between may and might for me, it’s that may expresses less certainty than might does — but I am not confident that I or the average English speaker consistently distinguishes between the two.
Some of my doubt has been sown by Philip Corbett, the After Deadline blogger, who favors precisely the opposite distinction. He writes:
“Trouble arises mainly when “may” and “might” convey possibility. Both words can carry this meaning, but there’s a difference in nuance. “May” simply states the possibility or likelihood, while “might” emphasizes the conditional nature of the possibility, introducing a greater level of uncertainty.
He may go to the theater tonight (stating the possibility).
He might go to the theater tonight (raising some doubt).”
It sounds in his post like Corbett has run an informal poll of some of the Times’ editors before reaching this conclusion, so I’m inclined to give it some credence. But, out of competitiveness and a gnawing curiosity if my usage is exactly backward, I wonder, first, whether there is any consensus amongst English speakers on this matter, and second, which one of us is closer to the consensus if it exists. What do you think? Is there a difference between may and might in sentences like these? If there is, is it one of likelihood or some other dimension(s)? How separated, if at all, are the two in your mind?
Post your opinion in the comments, and I’ll compile the results at the end of the week in a follow-up post. Then we’ll see whether it’s me or Corbett who has his finger well off the pulse of modern usage. (Of course, if it is me, I’ll bury the results in some rambling exposition on case assignment so that no one will ever find it.)
[Update: I forgot to add the link to the follow-up post. Here it is.]
Motivated Grammar 
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July 14, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Sky
Perhaps in respect to 3rd person subjects, the difference has more to do with how involved the speaker is with the activity? “He may go to the theatre” implies some distance between the speaker and the subject of the sentence – whether or not “he” goes, the speaker is not really involved. “He might go to the theatre”, on the other hand, subtly implies some involvement; perhaps the speaker might also join him, or perhaps there are some other plans to be made that hinge upon whether or not “he” goes.
Just my first hunch, without thinking too much on it….
July 14, 2009 at 8:05 pm
mike
Perhaps being somewhat attuned to this — I edit, after all — I right away read the first one as “I have permission to build a gravy fountain,” which is of course not the same as possibility.
This is clearer in my own work (software documentation), where there truly can be ambiguity between some possible outcome and an issue of permission:
If you set foo to bar, the procedure may delete the file.
Somewhat ambiguous; are we saying that setting foo gives permission to the procedure to delete the file, or that as a consequence of the setting, a side effect could be that the file is deleted?
Because of this possible ambiguity, we change instances of “may” to “might” when we’re talking about possibilities, and we just up and reword it when we’re talking about permissions.
I will note, however, that in first drafts, I very frequently encounter “may” to mean “might,” so it’s perfectly colloquial, and in most contexts, not ambiguous to speak of. (As in, I rarely have to contact the writer and ask for clarification.)
July 14, 2009 at 8:07 pm
mike
Actually, and to your original question: when the meaning is about possibility, I don’t think there’s a measurable difference between using “may” and “might”:
Q: Are you going to the movies tomorrow?
A: Dunno, I might.
-or-
A: Dunno, I may.
July 14, 2009 at 8:27 pm
dw
For me, “may” is to “might” as “can” is to “could”. In other words, I use “might” for the past tense, or to express a counterfactual situation, and “may” for other situations. So I guess I agree more with Corbett.
Historically, “might” was simply the past tense of “may”, just as “could” was of “can”, “ought” was of “owe” and “must” of the obsolete “mote”.
July 14, 2009 at 8:31 pm
dw
So, in response to Mike’s example,
“Dunno, I might”
suggests (in my usage) that I will only go if something unlikely happens — e.g. I finish work earlier than expected.
“Dunno, I may”
simply indicates a fair probability that I will go.
July 14, 2009 at 9:06 pm
KS
The usage of the word ‘may’ would imply either seeking permission, giving permission or discussing the allowance of an event.
Using the term in question form: “May I take the day off tomorrow?”
This sentence implies that one is asking whether it would be possible to take the following day off. I would go further to state that the above sentence is one where the word ‘might’ does not easily replace the word ‘may’.
The usage of the word ‘might’ would imply just the probability of an event occurring or not.
“I might take the day off tomorrow.”
Given this aspect, I would guess that ‘may’ may replace might in all scenarios, but ‘might’ may not always be used in place of ‘may’. I have never written a more confusing sentence in my life!
July 15, 2009 at 2:30 am
Bob Hale
As with many aspects of usage, I suspect that this is more complex. Individuals probably do have different shades of meaning in mind when they use “may” or “might”. The problem is that different individuals have different shades of meaning. My usage of “may” and “might” probably doesn’t correspond exactly to your usage of “may” and “might” or to anyone else’s. I don’t think it’s consistent for an individual and it certainly isn’t consistent between individuals.
With all that said, I’m an EFL teacher and, even at higher levels, I find it extremely hard to define and explain these subtleties to my students in a way that makes sense to them.
July 15, 2009 at 7:02 am
MikeyC
It’s interesting that the modal auxilaries normally listed as “remote forms”, by the likes of Michael Lewis in the book The English Verb, and “past forms” by quite a few grammarians, should cause so much confusion when it comes to qeustions on relative certainty.
I’ve always thought of “might” as expressing less certainty than “may”. Recently though, I have come across a lot of AmE speakers who see it the opposite way. According to Lewis, a remote form would express more “distant” certainty, possibility, social relationship, etc.
Hmm.
July 15, 2009 at 7:19 am
MikeyC
Here’s pretty little graphic related to Lewis’ idea:
http://www.acme2k.co.uk/Acme/aspect.htm#pa
July 15, 2009 at 8:15 am
Alex
May and Might to me are essentially interchangeable.
Although, at first, I agreed with your intuition that in the sentence “so and so MAY/MIGHT argue X” I would be more likely to use one form over the other form (and I agreed with your reasoning about the meaning distinction), the more I attempt to decide what instances I would use each item in, the less confident I am.
I’m pretty sure that, whatever semantic/pragmatic distinction might exist in my grammar that caused me to hesitate with the above example, it’s likely to be a minor feature easily outweighed by frequency and immediacy factors (not to mention competing with potential prosodic and phonological factors).
July 15, 2009 at 11:09 am
The Ridger
For me, I *think*, “This might be due to…” means I don’t really think it is, while “This may be due to…” means that I think so, but have no proof. But I don’t tend to use “may” in sentences like “He may go…” because of the ambiguity (he has permission/possibility), so I’m not sure which is more possible. But I think I always interpret “might” as meaning “… but maybe/probably not” and “may” as just meaning… well, may.
I think I use “probably” a lot.
July 15, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Emily
I agree with your intuition. I also find “may” more formal and probably would not use it much in spontaneous speech.
July 16, 2009 at 12:35 am
MikeyC
Emily, do you find “may” more formal that “might”? I’ve always seen it the opposite way.
July 16, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Emily
MikeyC: Yes, I find “may” more formal than “might”. Interesting that you have it reversed!
July 16, 2009 at 3:49 pm
MikeyC
Which of the partners in the other modal pairs are more formal for you, Emily?
For me:
should
would
could
July 16, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Ashe
Honestly can’t see a difference. Keep alighting on possible shades of meaning, and then they don’t hold up under further examination.
July 16, 2009 at 9:59 pm
MikeyC
Maybe my way of using the remote/past forms of modals, is the general British English way of using them.
July 19, 2009 at 11:16 am
Emily
For me, “shall” is extremely formal/old-fashioned/something along those lines, to the point where I couldn’t use it with a straight face. (I would use “will” instead.) Other than that, none of the modals are markedly formal.
July 19, 2009 at 4:12 pm
The Ridger
We just saw a sign at Mt St Helens warning us not to feed the animals as “chipmunks and squirrels may bite”. My friend said, “How Machiavellian: the park service has given the chipmunks permission to attack!”
July 20, 2009 at 1:02 am
MikeyC
So when asking for help, there would be no difference in markedness here, for you?
“Would/will you help me with these bags?”
“Hello. Could/Can I speak to Mr X?
July 20, 2009 at 1:04 am
MikeyC
So your friend has only “may for permission” available to him/her in his/her variety of English, right, The Ridger?
July 20, 2009 at 6:40 am
Emily
Hmm, I hadn’t thought about that context. In those questions, I’d say “would” is more polite, which I suppose makes it more formal. And “could” is more formal than “can”. So those two we seem to agree on.
August 10, 2009 at 7:55 am
The “may” and “might” follow-up « Motivated Grammar
[…] deadline, may, may v. might, might, new york times, philip corbett A couple weeks ago, I wrote a quick post asking for your opinions on Philip Corbett’s contention that may and might both express […]