Welcome to your MAY / MIGHT 2 lesson! In this topic we talk about:
• When do we use MAY and MIGHT?
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When do we use MAY and MIGHT?
MAY and MIGHT are used to talk about possible future actions:
Take some sun cream with you, it might be hot today.
I don’t know what we’re doing this weekend, we may go to the restaurant.
We might have to postpone the picnic, it’s starting to rain.
The negative forms are MAY NOT, MIGHT NOT or MIGHTN’T:
I may not come tonight, I’m not feeling very well.
There mightn’t be enough time to go shopping.
Compare WILL and MAY / MIGHT:
I‘ll be late tonight.
(for sure)I might be late tonight.
(possibly)
Unreal situations
We only use MIGHT (not MAY) when the situation is not real:
If I were president, I might raise taxes on the rich.
Continuous forms
We can also use continuous forms with MAY / MIGHT. Compare this to the Future Continuous:
Don’t come over after 9pm, I‘ll be sleeping.
(for sure)Don’t come over after 9pm, I might be sleeping.
(possibly)
Might as well
Might as well + VERB means “we should do it because there is no better alternative”:
The bus isn’t coming, we might as well walk.
My friend is driving us home tonight. We might as well have another drink!
No-one else is eating the cake, I might as well have some more.
In these types of sentences, “may as well” is also possible.
