Previous: may
2.2.1.2.9 might
2.2.1.2.9.1 Past tense of may, used in reported speech, to express possibility or permission. For
example:
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He said he might be late.
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The spokesman announced that the company might buy back shares of the company.
2.2.1.2.9.2 Expressing possibility or making a suggestion (in the present). For example:
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I might come and visit you next July if I have enough time for the long trip.
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This might work. Keep it up.
2.2.1.2.9.3 Used as a more polite form of may when asking for permission (in the present). For
example:
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Might I ask a question?
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Might I sit with you?
2.2.1.2.9.4 Used to suggest, especially angrily, what someone should do to be pleasant, correct,
polite, etc. (in the present or in the past). For example:
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You might at least try to look like you're enjoying yourself!
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“I asked my boss over for dinner tonight.” “Well, you might have asked me first!”
2.2.1.2.9.5 Used to introduce a statement that is very different from the statement you really
want to make, in order to compare the two. For example:
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You might think it's worth it, but it's not.
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“You might think it’s OK that the president’s son-in-law sought to establish a secret back channel of
communication with the Russians through a Russian diplomatic facility. I don’t think that’s OK.” -- Adam
Schiff, Chairman of the US House Committee on Intelligence.* -
“I think Russ is honestly just as normal as anybody else. I think anything he does is just amplified, and, you
know, if anybody knows Russ on a personal level, you know that he's as real as it gets. He's 100 percent. He's
as pure as a person that you can find. If you're watching him from afar, you might mistake that for him being
a certain type of way. But honestly, man, he's one of the best human beings I've ever been a part of.” -- Paul
George, the NBA team Oklahoma City Thunder forward, commenting on his teammate Russell Westbrook's
sometimes abrasive personality, in his end-of-season exit interview with the media, on April 25, 2019.