May vs Might

[KatyMac]

DD & I were discussing in the car whether

"I may have some sausages in the frezeer"

or

"I might have some sausages in the frezeer"

Is correct?

Which is it?

Might is right.

Might, I think.

Do you know why?

It's all about estimating probabilities.

Your actual dilemma was might or could. NOT may.

Oh my god is this what I now do on Friday nights?

DD wants to know when you say 'May'?

You could say may have about past possibility (he may have gone to the shops) or future possibility (England may win the football). To be fair, I think you could also say there may be sausages in the freezer. (I just prefer might).

May is also connected to permission (may I please have another sweet).

this one is baffling me atm

To be honest I haven't done much editing for a long time. I think I may (see what I did there) be rusty. I think on reflection might have for past possibility rather than may have.

Answer to dd: use either!

So both are OK but might is nicer?

Not nicer, just had my old English teacher and years later boss going on about might not may!

No! There is a BIG DIFFERENCE between may and might which my mum keeps explaining to me. I just don't listen. Apparently people get them wrong all the time and it drives her mad.

Is your mum my old boss?

Googled and stolen pasted:

may

We can use 'may' to ask for permission. However this is rather formal and not used very often in modern spoken English.

?May I borrow your dictionary?

We use 'may' to suggest something is possible.

?Philip may come to stay with us

might

We use 'might' to suggest a small possibility of something. Often we read that 'might' suggests a smaller possibility that 'may', there is in fact little difference and 'might is more usual than 'may' in spoken English.

?It might rain this afternoon.

For the past, we use 'might have'.

?He might have tried to call you while you were out.
?I might have left it in the taxi.

So just how likely was it that you had sausages in the freezer Katy? Because therein lies the answer.

So, you didn't know whether you had sausages in the freezer or not? In that case, either is actually OK, but may would be the standard present tense use, with might as a subjunctive for added doubt.

'I may have some sausages in the freezer' = I'm not sure if I do or not.

'I might have some sausages' = I don't think I do, but it's possible.

The issue comes when one's dealing with the past tense:

'I might have had some sausages in the freezer [but I didn't]' - fine

'I may have had some sausages in the freezer [but I didn't]'- wrong, you can only use may when the outcome is still uncertain.

Hmm... I don't feel like I'm explaining this very well...

Mooncup that's what I've been trying (very badly) to say!

Well actually I didn't think about it enough to differential between

'I may have some sausages in the freezer' = I'm not sure if I do or not.

'I might have some sausages' = I don't think I do, but it's possible.

Oh dear - I am obviously not concerned about the sausages enough

Well, it is a bit of a technical distinction KatyMac!! The crucial point is that since it's present tense either is correct.

What drives me mad is when people say things like:

'If Diana had lived she may have married Dodi' - no! She didn't live, so it has to be 'might' here as it didn't happen.

The only time when 'may' about a past event is correct is when we still don't know what happened:

'Diana may have been planning to marry Dodi, we just don't know.'

DD says thnks

I say (in it's 'duh I'm confused sense') - but as it was DD that was bothered, Thank you all

see, i would have thought that might was a bigger possibility that may.

i also would go with may being something that hasn't yet happened - like the "i may buy some for the freezer" rather than "there might already be some in there"

i think might is more usual than may when we're talking probability.

mooncup is right with her proved past probability - might can be used and may can't if you know the outcome.