May or might?

When is it right to use may and when to use might?

Opinions vary, depending on what you read. Here are a few guidelines culled from the Economist Style Guide and the Oxford Guide to English Usage.

1. If the truth of the event is unknown, then may or might are interchangeable.

• I may/might go home early

• If I go home early, I may/might have to come in early tomorrow

• He may/might have come home early.

2. If you are stating a certainty, use may.

• I may be a linguist, but I don’t speak German.

3. If the event never actually happened, or you are stating something contrary to fact, use might.

• If I had come in earlier, my whole life might have been different.

• If I had wings, I might get to work more quickly.

4. Use might when following a conditional subjunctive.

• If I were to go home early, I might have to come in early tomorrow.

If you have any questions about writing skills, leave a comment below.

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Rob Ashton is the founder of Emphasis and posts mainly about writing and the brain – a topic he's been researching for seven years. You can read more of his work in Writing Matters – our weekly bulletin of career-building writing advice backed by science.