01 Jun A Grammar Blog–may and might

A recent news article on a murder trial said that if it hadn’t had been for a discovery fluke, the murderer “may have gotten away with it.”

This implies that the murderer did get away with it, but the context of the sentence implies that he did not.  The reason for the ambiguity is the modal auxiliary indicative verb “may”.  The correct verb is the subjunctive “might”.

When “may” and “might” are pointing to the future, as in “I may go with you” and “I might go with you”, they are interchangeable in contemporary colloquial usage.  Both imply possibility.

But when they refer to the past, as in “He may have gotten away with it” (implying that he possibly did get away with it and) and “He might have gotten away with it”, the difference in meaning is clear.  In the latter case, the action did not happen, and there is also a condition attached to the non-happening.  This sentence could then be finished in a couple of different ways:

“He might have gotten away with it, but the police were too clever for him.”

“He might have gotten away with it if his girl friend hadn’t confessed.”

Often “but” or “if” act as hinges in sentences that use “might” correctly.