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  • Hi. I'm Gill at www.engvid.com

  • and today the lesson is about the two words "may" and "might",

  • and I know these can be a little bit confusing because they are connected. "May" and "might"

  • come from the same verb, but it's a rather strange verb that is only used in certain

  • ways. So, I'm just going to give you a few examples to show how these words are actually

  • used in sentences and in different situations.

  • So, starting with "may", which as you know, is also the name of a month, it can be a woman's

  • name, but it's also a verb. And it's used in two main different ways. It's used to express

  • something that is possible, a possibility of something happening; and it can also be

  • used differently to ask permission in a polite way, to say: "May I do something?" It's more

  • polite than saying: "Can I" or "Could I". "Could I" is polite, "Can I" is less polite,

  • but "May I" is the really nice, polite way of asking for something.

  • Okay, so let's have a look first of all at "may" used to express something possible,

  • a possibility. So, first of all: I've lost my gloves. I can't find my gloves that go

  • on my hands. So I say to my friend:

  • "Oh, I can't find my gloves." And my friend replies:

  • "Do you think you may have dropped them in the street?"

  • Okay. So I was walking through

  • the street with my friend, we have arrived home.

  • "Do you think you may have dropped them in the street? Is that possible that you dropped them somewhere?"

  • So, that's possibility. Okay.

  • And again, going out again, so in this colder weather, my friend says:

  • "You'd better take a coat - it may get cold later."

  • If we're going out in the daytime, but we're going

  • to be out in the evening as well when it gets colder, so: "You'd better take a coat." Good

  • advice. "Take a coat. It may get cold later." It's possible it will get cold later and you'll

  • need to put your coat on. Okay?

  • And then finally for these examples of what is possible, I say to my friend:

  • "Was that John who just walked by? Someone walked by, was that John?" And my friend replies:

  • "It may have been. I'm not sure."

  • Because my friend didn't really see. It may have been, but I'm

  • not really sure. So, possibly. Possibly it was John. I'm not 100% sure. Okay, so those

  • are three examples of this first meaning of "may".

  • And then just two examples of asking permission using "may" in a polite way. If I don't have

  • a pen, I can say to someone:

  • "May I borrow your pen, please?"

  • Okay. "To borrow" is just to have for a short time, use it, give it back. Okay.

  • "May I borrow your pen, please?"

  • That's all very polite. "May I", "please". Okay?

  • And then finally, somebody asks you a question and it's maybe quite a complicated thing.

  • You can't decide. They invite you to something, you can't decide: Yes, no, not sure. You need

  • to think about it. So, you reply:

  • "I can't decide at the moment - may I have a few days to think about it?"

  • Okay? And hopefully the other person is willing to give you time to

  • think. It might be a very serious decision, so: "May I have a few days? Give me some time

  • to think about it." Okay, so that's the two main meanings for "may". We'll now move on

  • to look at "might".

  • Okay, so moving on to "might". It's similar in a way, similar to the first meaning of

  • "may", meaning possible. Okay? But the feeling with "might" is that it's a little bit less

  • likely to be true. It's more remote, less possible. There's more doubt about it. Okay?

  • Just slightly more doubt. So let's have a look at some examples. Okay, so I might say:

  • "I don't feel well." And my friend might say:

  • "Oh dear - do you think it might be something you've eaten?

  • Some food you've eaten. Do you think it might be, possibly?"

  • With some doubt.

  • Maybe she cooked the dinner so she doesn't want to think it was anything she cooked.

  • So: "Do you think it might be?" Okay?

  • Another example, someone asks:

  • "Where are you going for your holidays?"

  • And I might reply: "We haven't decided yet, but we might go to Italy."

  • It's possible, possible, but

  • not definite. "We might go to Italy."

  • Another example, you're waiting for your friend to arrive, Anna.

  • "Anna hasn't arrived yet - do you think she might have forgotten?"

  • the arrangement to meet. "Do you think she might have forgotten?"

  • It's not... It's not like her to forget, so there's a lot of doubt

  • there. "She might have forgotten, but mm." Okay?

  • And finally, one of the buses I sometimes travel on is a number 54. Okay? And but because I'm...

  • Can't see very well, if the bus is coming from a long way away I can't see the

  • number until it's nearer, so I might say to someone else waiting: "Is that a 54 bus coming?"

  • And they could reply:

  • "Mm..." They can't see the number either. "It might be - I can't see the number yet."

  • So, there were four different buses, it might be, it might be a 54, but

  • it could be one of three other possible ones. Okay.

  • And then just one final little note about the use of the word "may" with the word "be".

  • People tend to get this confused. Even English, native English speakers don't understand this.

  • So, "maybe", if you say "maybe" and if you write it as one word it means "perhaps". Again,

  • it's the idea of what's possible. Perhaps. Maybe.

  • -"Will we go to see a film tomorrow?"

  • -"Maybe. Maybe." Which means perhaps, it's possible. But if you have a sentence which says:

  • "It may be raining tomorrow", that is two words, "may", "be", two words.

  • "It may be raining tomorrow", so it doesn't mean perhaps. You can't say: "It perhaps raining tomorrow."

  • That doesn't work in English.

  • Okay, so I hope that lesson about "may" and "might" has been helpful. If you'd like to

  • go to the website, www.engvid.com, there is a quiz on this subject which I hope you would like

  • to try. And if you've found this lesson helpful, please subscribe to my channel on YouTube.

  • And so, that's all for now. Hope to see you again soon.

  • Bye.

Hi. I'm Gill at www.engvid.com

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