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119
This news is so strange that you may not believe it. (Perhaps you won’t believe it.)
He may come or he may not. (Может быть, он придет, а может и нет.)
She may not know that you are here. (Perhaps she doesn’t know that you are here.)
Why hasn’t he come? He may have been hurt. (Perhaps he has been hurt. We still don’t know whether he
has or has not.)
Why aren’t you at the station? They may be arriving.
The non-perfect infinitive indicates reference to the present or future, that is, it expresses supposition or
uncertainty about a present or future action.
They may arrive tonight or tomorrow.
The perfect infinitive indicates reference to the past.
May (might) in the sense of supposition or uncertainty is not used in questions, instead some other means are
used: Is it (he) likely ... ? or Do you think ... ?
Is Mary likely to arrive tonight?
Do you think he has already come?
Note:
The difference between the meaning of the negative forms of can and may:
He may not be ill.=
It is possible that he isn’t ill.
He may not be working. =
It is possible that he isn’t working.
He can’t be ill. =
It is not possible that he is ill.
He can’t be working. =
It is impossible that he is working.
Can + negation in these sentences denotes doubt, incredulity on the part of the speaker, whereas may
expresses uncertainty about a negation of some fact.
2. Reproach. This meaning is found only in positive statements and only with the form might as it is a
reproach made about something that has not been done and thus implies some unfulfilled action.
You might at least offer to help.
In combination with the perfect infinitive it renders irritation (annoyance) that the action was not carried
out.
You might have opened the door for me.
3. May/might partly loses its meaning when used in certain sentence patterns and is in such cases a quasi-
subjunctive auxiliary (see § 80):
a) in clauses of purpose:
Sit here so that I may see your face more clearly.
He died so that others might live.
b) in clauses of concession:
Try as he may he will never be top of his class.
However hard he might try, he never managed it.