Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Modality | 645

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Permission

Can

, could and may are all used to seek permission. Could is usually heard as

more formal and polite than can, and may is the most formal/polite of the three:

Can I use your phone?

Could I use your phone?

(more formal/polite)

May I use your phone?

(even more formal/polite)

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385 Might

In giving permission, can and may, but not could, are used; may is more

formal/polite than can, and much less frequent:

[in a clothes shop; A is the customer]

A: Can I try a shirt on as well?

B: You can, sir, yes. 

(You could, sir, yes.)

‘You 

may go now,’ she said.

[to a child]

You 

can watch TV for an hour, then off to bed.

(You could watch TV for an hour, then off to bed.)

Requests

A wide range of requests and directives are made with can and could (but not

may

). As with seeking permission, could is more polite than can:

Can you spell that for me please.

Could you give me a ring if you can’t make it, Bob.

[adult to child]

Could you just shut up for a minute!

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also 416 Requests in Speech acts

MIGHT

385

Uses

Might

has a number of meanings. In general, it is a more indirect and tentative

alternative to may. Its most frequent uses are for expressing probability; its uses

referring to permission are mostly formal and much less frequent.

Probability

The most frequent uses of might are for referring to probability:

A: So I’m going to buy a digital camera. 

B: Yeah. 

A: And I might buy a video camera as well. 

646 | Modality

Cambridge Grammar of English

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Permission

When used to refer to permission, might is very formal and infrequent:

Might I speak to Mrs Lutterworth?