May have vs. might have

Discussion of natural languages, or language in general.
User avatar
Arzena
Lebom
Lebom
Posts: 240
Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2008 1:19 pm
Location: ¡California, Tejas, Marruecos!

Re: May have vs. might have

Post by Arzena »

@Chagen: "Texan here...hm, I don't think the distinction exists here. I could definitely say "you might've broken that" to mean "it's possible that you have now broken it", while "you may have broken that" would usually mean...actually, the same thing, honestly"


"You might've broken it" sounds more accusatory to me than anything else. If I wanted to accuse someone of breaking something, "You may have broken that" simply reports the fact of the object breaking, without an accusative voice. Source: California English raised. Adopted Texan patterns since moving here 5 years ago.
A New Yorker wrote:Isn't it sort of a relief to talk about the English Premier League instead of the sad state of publishing?
Abi wrote:At this point it seems pretty apparent that PIE was simply an ancient esperanto gone awry.
Shtåså, Empotle7á, Neire Wippwo

Post Reply