36 •
They could often find much money from that job.
4.4 May and Might
Modal verb of may is used for permission and possibility. However, it can be also used for another function in sentences such as request, hopes, suggestion,
etc. May is used to express a week degree of certainty. May is more polite and formal than can to obligation and freedom to act and the other situation.
Modal verb of might is past form of may, but some situation in sentences or action use might quite commonly with a present or future. It is more common to
use may or might with the perfect aspect to provide a past tense. Might can be used conditional sentence or mood. While there are some dialects where the use of
might to replace may is common, even in colloquial or informal speech, there are other dialects where might serves a more polite or formal form of may. It is almost
the same as could with can. Might is also to express weak. There are some rules may and might as modal auxiliary verbs:
a There is no suffix-s for the third person singular.
b Questions and negatives are made without do.
c After may and might, it is used with infinitive without to bare infinitive of
other verbs. d
May and might do not have infinitives or participles to may, maying, mighted do not exist
e Might does not normally have a past meaning. It is used in the some way as
may to talk about the present and the future. The differences is that might
Universitas Sumatera Utara
37 usually refer to situation that are less definite. Might also replace may in the
past indirect speech. f
However, certain past ideas can be expressed by may or might followed by a perfect infinitive.
g Might has a contracted negative mightn’t. May is very unusual.
Modal verb of may and might can used to all subject pronoun, they are; I, you, they, we, she, he, it. Generally, the meaning which appeared from verb may
and might are used to express possibility, permission, request and hopes or wishes. There are some kinds of specified meaning of may and might verb when
it use in sentence. When make the context of granting and seeking permission use may. Might is the
past tense of may. Might is considerably more tentative than may. Examples:
• May I go home now?
• May he come in here?
• May I borrow your car?
May also used to offering help. Examples:
• May I help you?
• May I take this book for you?
• May I book you a comfortable room?
Universitas Sumatera Utara
38 In the context of expressing possibility, may and might are interchangeable in
present and future forms. It forms the past tense when; might +have + past participle.
Examples: •
He might be my advisor next semester. •
He may be my advisor next semester. •
She might have advised me to continue my study in capital city. •
They might have cooked kinds of food for us. •
I do not see her in that class, she may be unwell. Avoid confusing the sense of possibility in may with the implication of might
that a hypothetical situation has not in fact occurred. For instance, let’s say “There is been a helicopter crash at the airport”. In his initial report, before all the facts
are gathered, a newscaster could say that “The pilot may have been injured”. After we discover that the pilot is in fact all right, the newscaster now say that “The
pilot might have been injured” because it is a hypothetical situation that has not occurred. Another example: “a body had been identified after much work by a
detective”. It was reported that “without this painstaking work, the body may have remained unidentified.” Since the body, in fact identified, might is clearly called
for.
4.5 Must
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