Re: Help!

On might:
At least within recent memory, there was a useful distinction of may/might in
regard to the past: may meant something could, asa matter of fact, have
happened in the past,
but thespeakerwas uncertain whether it had or not. Might meant a possibility
hadexisted in the past, which was now no longer a possibility:
Thus:
JFK may have been killed by L.Harvey Oswald. (The speaker is uncertain of the
past fact).
If JFK had not been killed, he might have been reelected. (The possibility
existed in the past, but no longer exists.)
This distinction was observed in formal written English in my lifetime,but
nowadays I
frequently see "may"used in the second situation, which feels wrong to me,
though if the usage has become sufficiently popular it may now be standard. I
regret the loss of the distinction, which I considered useful.
John Leland

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