may/ might

[Farmer1]

1. Take an umbrella with you. It might rain later.
2. Take an umbrella with you. It may rain later.
Is there any difference in sense between the above two sentence.

[Maryam90]

Both of them express possibility but 'may' is stronger than might.

[Beeesneees]

I disagree that one would be seen as stronger than the other to the majority of native English speakers.
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[James M]

I agree with Maryam that "may" is stronger than "might."

Let's say that you invite someone to your party. If he says, "I may come," there is a strong possibility that he will, indeed, come.

If she says, "I might come," there is less of a possibility. In fact, sometimes people use "might" because they do not want to say "NO."

[Beeesneees]

As a native English speaker myself, I disagree that native English speakers would see that distinction in modern times.
'May' and 'might' have become blurred. One would not be seen as any more of a possibility than the other.
'May' does not indicate a stronger possibility that the person would come -- and I have known people to use 'may' because they don't wish to say 'no'.

These modal forms are very much open to interpretation. A lot of the time, they can be used entirely interchangeably. In other contexts, use of only one is correct. Modality deals with uncertainties and attitudes and therefore such tight classification is open to pitfalls. Modality has evolved over time, and whereas 'might' is grammatically/traditionally seen as 'weak possibility', in current practice, there is often no difference.

'I might' in particular, these days, is often an indication of 'There is a strong possibility that I will...'

"I need to buy a new phone battery."
"Have you tried ABCInternet.con. Their prices are excellent."
"I might very well take a look later, thanks."
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[Maryam90]

that was interesting .thanks Beeesneees.

[Beeesneees]

Hi Maryam,

I've noticed in a few of your posts that you have spacing errors and omit capital letters.
The space should follow the full stop or comma, not precede it. Sentences always begin with a capital letter. Your message would have been correctly written like this:

That was interesting. Thanks, Beeesneees.
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[Maryam90]

Hi Beeesneees,
Thanks a lot .

[Beeesneees]

You've still placed the space before the full stop. I think you might need to concentrate really hard to break what seems to be a habit.
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[Farmer1]

"He might be allowed to have food."
Is the underlined part an adjective?

[James M]

(1) The doctor might allow him to have food. (We call that an active sentence.)

(2) He might be ALLOWED to have food (by the doctor). (We call that a passive sentence.)

(a) As you can see, it is the past participle of the verb "allow."

[Farmer1]

What is the indirect speech of the following sentence?
He said,"Let him have some food."

[Beeesneees]

There are several possibilities including:
He said that they should let him have some food.
He told them to let him have some food.
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[Farmer1]

[Beeesneees]

They aren't. There are many synonyms for 'said' but 'wished' is not one of them. Besides which, in the original sentences it is clear that the speaker wants a third person to be given food. In these sentences it sounds as if the wisher wants food for himself.
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