BE 365: Business Grammar that Might Be Confusing
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This is the Business English Podcast episode 365, business grammar that might be confusing.

Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English. Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business. For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Aubrey, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.

This episode is brought to you by Amazon Business. We could all use more time. Amazon Business offers smart business buying solutions so you can spend more time growing your business and less time doing the admin. I can see why they call it smart. Learn more at amazonbusiness.com. Hey there, Aubrey. What's shakin'?

i'm doing great how are you yeah i'm feeling good all right what's something that you might do this weekend hmm we might go see christmas lights it's actually before christmas as we're recording this so we'll probably do some holiday activities i love that you said

Might though, because this we got a really good question about might versus may in the community from Natalia. I'm excited to dive into this today. Yeah. And this came from our community of students. So now when you join our courses, you're invited into our vibrant community of students talking to each other, connecting. They're now doing their own conversation groups, Aubrey. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, so exciting. I know, and this is such a good example of Natalia posted this question, and even before I had a chance to see it, another student had given an amazing answer. Wow. And then I was in there, we're like, it created a fun discussion, and I realized right away, this is going to be a great podcast episode. That's really good. So shall I read? Shall I read the question? Shall you read the question? We want to say, shall you? Yes. Read the question for us. Yes.

Here we go. Would you please help to explain the difference between may and might? It is kind of confusing for me. I feel it's not just about the tense, but it's more complicated, but I can't really tell what the differences are. Thank you, Natalia. Nice.

Nice. Such a great question. Yes. And this is a little tricky because sometimes we use them pretty interchangeably. Sometimes there is more of an implication for one. So this is going to be great. Yes. Hit the follow button guys right now to make sure that you make business English a big part of your 2025 learning plan when it comes to professional English. We have some really exciting things coming up this month and later into the spring. So make sure you hit follow.

all right yes awesome hit follow there's some great episodes coming we don't want you to miss any of them yeah okay so let's go into the differences between may and might aubrey let's start with may

Yeah. So with may, it's mostly used in present tense, first of all, whereas might's more in the past tense. And we often use it to describe likely hypotheticals. So we'll give a couple examples here. Yeah. What does that mean? Right. So here's what it means. I may join the meeting later, but I'm not sure.

Right. So it's all about the likelihood of something happening, right? May and might are both modals. They're going to give information about the verb, how likely the verb is to happen. So am I going to join the meeting? Maybe. So I say I may join the meeting. I'm not sure. Right. Or that policy may change later this year.

Okay. Yes. And for both of these, this is something that's pretty likely because often you could use might. If you choose may, there's a little more of an implication that it's pretty likely that this will happen. Yes. But then we also use it to give or to ask for

formal permission, like you teach your kids to say this, right? When they ask permission. - Exactly. They might say, "May I sit down please?" Right? Or you might give permission and say, "You may leave early if you'd like." - So two kind of quite different

Reasons to use may, right? Yes, exactly. And so then for might, which is very similar. So I definitely understand why Natalia is like, I'm not sure when to use which because they are so similar. But this is often used in the past tense. And when it's describing hypotheticals, they're usually a little bit less likely.

So for example, Amazon might have dropped off a package while I was at work. Now I could say may have dropped off. This might be maybe I saw them in my camera. Maybe someone told me they saw the Amazon truck, right? So whether you choose may or might is all about how likely you think this unknown hypothetical situation is. Okay.

- Ooh, real nuance here then in that case. Here's another example. I might get the months in account if they like my presentation. And so using might here shows just a little more doubt because if you say I may get the months in account, then it sounds like you think it's likely.

I see. I see. Okay. But very subtle, right? It's a very super subtle, super, you could really use both and no one's going to definitely assume anything. It's the very, a very subtle difference. Yeah. Because in my mind, I mean, I, I, I often use them interchangeably to be honest. Yes. A lot of us do. Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of native speakers don't really make that differentiation, but if that's, you know, what we know, we want to know the actual rules and then how natives use it.

Right? Exactly. Right. And this is tricky because something like this, the use of modals, there aren't often hard and fast grammar rules. It's more suggestions and more like how people use it normally. So just like you said, Lindsay, one person to the next,

somebody might think that may in their mind is much more certain and might is much less likely. And another person might use them totally interchangeably. And you can't read that much into what they're saying. Right. That's why we need to listen for tone of voice, you know, context around the one sentence and what else are people saying? There's a lot. And then just not make assumptions, right? If someone says may or might, we can't necessarily assume that they think one is more likely. Right. And then what would be the other situation for might?

Yeah. So we also use might for situations that did not occur. So this is the tense is past modal perfect tense, which is a mouthful, but it means you're going to have have or had in the past tense with the modal might. So for example, if it hadn't rained, we might have had our event outdoors. Oh boy. If it hadn't rained, we might've had our event outdoors. This is high level grammar, Aubrey.

- For sure. - Exactly. And you could definitely exchange might with the modal could. If it hadn't rained, we could have had our event outdoors. - Sure, meaning. - It's kind of complicated grammar because it's past perfect. Sometimes we avoid past perfect. We could just say, "Oh, bummer, it rained, so we couldn't have it outside." - Right, keep it in the present tense. - Right, right, right. - Or we might've closed that deal if we had submitted the proposal in time.

It's like there was a chance for something and now it won't happen. It will never be able to happen, right? Exactly. We often use this when we're sort of being wistful. We might be thinking about something that we wish could have happened, we wish might have happened, and then we will use this past perfect this way. Oh, we might have closed that deal if only we had submitted the proposal in time. Yeah, but we can't spend too much time thinking that way, especially if we've made a mistake, right? For sure. That's a good point.

It just brings us down. But there are a lot of perfect modals, right? Might have, could have, should have. They're all super useful this way. If ever you do want to express what could have been. Yes. What might have been. Love that.

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Okay, Aubrey, we have a pro tip and we love to give our listeners these pro tips sometimes, especially when it comes to grammar. What is it for today? Yes, so because these are often interchangeable, but there are times where it wouldn't make as much sense to say it. So one pro tip is to use might,

When you don't know the likelihood, like for example, I asked you what's something you might do this weekend, it would sound a little strange to say what's something you may do this weekend because there is that implication of that being more likely and I don't know the likelihood. For all I know, you're going to sit home. So I wouldn't use may, I would use might.

Right. I love that. And anything else? Any other pro tip there? Is that the main one? Yeah. Well, the other thing we kind of covered just how negligible this difference can be. It's often very interchangeable. So for example, if I am telling you, Lindsay, about some friends, tell me if these sound different, if there's any different implication to you. If I say they may be late,

or they might be late. Yeah, no, really not. Honestly, I don't feel any difference. I mean, you wouldn't read into what I know about whether they'll be late or not, depending on which I'm using. I think it would be equal chance, you know, an equal chance that they would be late. You know, let's say you've invited, we're having dinner, you've invited your friends to join us. Yeah, I don't see any difference there.

Yeah. And I feel like it's the same for me. I often use them interchangeably. But if you guys Google, I looked into this quite a bit and there are people online that are more like this may means more likely and might means a lot less likely. So I think it might be about regional dialects. These are used differently in other English speaking countries. So this is very much U.S. specific dialects.

And you can't read into it because you don't know. Like whoever you're talking to might imply the likelihood or they might not. It might be totally interchangeable to them. And you know what we can do if we're just not quite sure if that person sees it as interchangeable or how they see what they're saying, we can ask other questions. We could say, oh, where are they coming from?

Did they tell you they'd be late? Right. Or are they driving or are they taking a cab? All these questions could be follow-ups to get more information. Absolutely. If someone says may or might, and you need to know how sure they are, ask. That's a good point. You can just ask to get more context. Yeah. And that will build the relationship more. The more you talk, usually the better the relationship gets, the connection.

So Aubrey, let's do a role play here. So we are discussing a potential client. Here we go. All right, I'll start us. I think they might be considering some of our competitors. Very possible. They may go with us though. We've had a pretty good relationship. I tried to host a lunch but couldn't coordinate schedules. The deal might have already closed if that had worked out. Hmm.

Okay. Some regret here. Never a good thing. I'm putting a lot of weight on this lunch, right? I'm like, if only I had been able to schmooze them a little bit at lunch. Oh,

the deal would have already closed. And I think some people drive themselves crazy in the dating world around this. You know, this might have happened if I had said this or we had gone there on a date instead of there. You know, it's easy to drive yourself nuts over those questions. I agree. And I think this is a pretty good takeaway besides what else we'll talk about. But first, we want to share one other episode that you shouldn't miss. 1968, which was must, should,

may and shall in english some really good information about modals there so come back to the blog to find that one really great episode and before we share our takeaway let's go through the role play real quick aubry just to make sure that we see again how yeah maybe interchangeable but certain places we used might and may so you said i think they might be considering some of our competitors

Yeah. And this I do feel like there might be the tiniest hint of if I said I think they may be considering some of our competitors, I sound more sure about it. Maybe I have some kind of information that I know they're considering it, whereas might sounds kind of just like I'm throwing out a guess. Yeah, I see what you're saying.

Yeah, I see what you're saying there. I agree with that. But very, very subtle. Very subtle and kind of depends on the sentence too. It kind of depends on what you're talking about, right? And then I said very possible. They may go with us though. We have a good relationship.

Yeah. And this is just maybe the tiniest bit more confident than saying they might go with us. Right. That does sound a little bit more unsure. So May, if you're wanting to at work imply confidence, then you could opt for May. Yeah. In my mind, might kind of has a little shakiness to it. Yeah. It's a little shaky. A little bit. Not quite as sure. Might go, you know.

Yeah. It's very subtle again. So I don't want our listeners to get hung up on this too much. And I think the main takeaway today is that it's pretty much interchangeable, but might is slightly shakier. Okay. Yeah, I agree. And then I said, the deal might have already closed if that had worked out. And all three of these, you could definitely say may. The meaning that you're conveying is not extreme enough to be stressing about, like you said, Lindsay, don't worry about it, but it is helpful to know like,

you know, why? Why are there two different modals when they have such similar meanings? Yeah, exactly. Aubrey, any final thoughts for our listeners today?

Yeah, I just loved what you were saying, right? We want to share confidence in what we're saying, but we also don't need to be stressing about the grammar. You guys have heard this from us, connection, not perfection. A lot of things, if you don't need to worry about it, if it's a very subtle difference, then there are a lot of better things to worry about when connecting in English. Exactly. And if you have decided to grab might or may because you feel like they're interchangeable, which they pretty much are, and you think the person's a little confused,

of the chances of whether this is going to happen or not, add more information, you know, clarify, right? That's all we have to do. Just keep talking. I love that, right? Yeah. Get a little more context just so that you're sure you don't want to risk making an assumption and being incorrect. So you can just ask more questions to find out. All right. Sounds good, Aubrey. Well, you have a good rest of your week and we'll see you back on the show very soon. All right. Awesome. See you next time. All right. Take care. Bye. Bye.

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