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

Past tense of may

Might

is used as the past form of may in indirect reports:

When they reached the shore road, she said to him, ‘Mother 

may be expecting

you.’ 

The probable indirect report of this sentence would be:

She said that mother 

might be expecting him.

Suggestions

Might

is also used to issue advice or suggestions politely or indirectly, especially

when used together with like or want:

[university tutor recommending a book to a student]

I won’t go any further with it now but you 

might like to take a copy of it out

with you. It elaborates on a number of the claims that Wade makes. And I do

recommend that you look at the book. 

Û

414e Declaratives with may as well and might (just) as well in Speech acts

COULD, MAY AND MIGHT

386

Could

, may and might are all used to express degrees of certainty. May expresses a

slightly greater degree of certainty than could, and tends to be used in more formal

contexts. Might is more tentative than may or could:

He 

may also find some graduate school course that he can do.

(expresses slightly greater likelihood than could)

[referring to the single European currency, the Euro]

Staying outside the single currency 

could be detrimental to the UK.

It 

might take us months to find the right person.