May and might are helping verbs that can express possibility or permission.
- I may (or might) go to the conference with Johanne tomorrow.
- May I have some more cake?
- Yes, you may have some more cake.
Some authorities believe there is a difference between the two forms when they are used to express possibility, with may conveying possibility and might, unlikely possibility.
- She may have been in the office when we telephoned, or she might have been in Tuktoyaktuk, for all I know.
It is important to note that may expresses possibility in the present; might must be used when the possibility of doing something existed only in the past:
- Johnson may have survived; we are waiting for news.
[There is a possibility that he survived; we don’t know yet.] - Johnson’s death last week might (not may) have been prevented if the ambulance had responded more rapidly.
[There was a possibility in the past of preventing his death; but since he died, that possibility no longer exists.]
Might is sometimes preferred when you are asking for permission and more politeness or formality is required.
- Might I ask a question, Sir?
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