Choosing between May and Might

Choosing between may and might is sometimes difficult, sometimes not. If you’re using a past-tense verb, might is always the correct choice: “I thought he might arrive early,” not “I thought he may arrive early.” But if you’re using a present-tense verb, or if you’re using may and might by themselves to express possibility, the choice is often difficult. Is it “I think he may arrive early” or “I think he might arrive early”? Is it “He may arrive early” or “He might arrive early”?

The usage expert Claire Kehrwald Cook offers a useful guideline. She argues that “may suggests better odds than might does” (186). Therefore, the form that you use depends on the likelihood of the possibility you’re describing. For example, if I think something you said is likely true, I’d say “You may be right.” If I’m not that confident, however, I’d say “You might be right.”

Cook also notes that since both may and might “express possibility as opposed to certainty,” it’s unnecessary to keep hammering home that point by using words like possibly and perhaps with them (186). In sentences like “The train may possibly leave on time” or “The train might perhaps leave on time,” you don’t need the extra verbiage. “The train may leave on time” and “The train might leave on time” convey the meaning with less, shall we say, freight.

Work Cited

Cook, Claire Kehrwald. Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1985.