零基础学英语：may & might词汇辨析

 　　May and might are both ways of expressing possibility. Is there a difference between the way in which they should be used?

　　May和might这两个词汇都是可能性的不同表达。它们使用方法是否有不同呢?

　　Some people insist that you should use may (present tense) when talking about a current¹ situation and might (past tense) when talking about an event that happened in the past. For example:

　　有人认为在谈论当前的情形时(现在时态)应该使用may，在谈论过去发生的事件时(过去时态)应使用might：

　　I may go home early if I’m tired. (present tense)

　　如果我觉的累了，我会早点回家。(现在时态)

　　He might have visited Italy before settling² in Nuremberg. (past tense)

　　在他定居纽伦堡之前他可能去过意大利。(过去时态)

　　实际上，现在对这两个词的时态区分也已经很少了，一般情况下这两个词语可以互相替换。比如上面两个例句还可以这样写：

　　I might go home early if I’m tired.

　　如果我觉的累了，我会早点回家。

　　He may have visited Italy before settling in Nuremberg.

　　在他定居纽伦堡之前他可能去过意大利。

　　may和might有一些固定的区别:如果事情的真相在当时并不知晓，这种情况用may和might都是可以的：

　　By the time you read this, he may have made his decision.

　　到你读到它的时候，他可能已经做了决定。

　　I think that comment might have offended³ some people.

　　我认为这条评论可能会触犯一些人。

　　如果一些事在说话时已确定没有发生，这种情况最好用might：

　　The draw against Italy might have been a turning point, but it didn't turn out like that.

　　与意大利打成平局可能成为一个转折点，结果却并不是这样。

1 current   

n.涌流，趋势，电流，水流，气流；adj.当前的，通用的，流通的，现在的，草写的，最近的

参考例句：

• Electric current is often powerful enough to kill a man.电流常强得足以致命。
• There is a story about her in the current number.最近一期上有关于她的故事。

2 settling   

沉淀物

参考例句：

• They were behindhand in settling their debts. 他们没有及时还清债务。
• Settling the dispute required great tact and diplomacy. 解决这个争端需要十分老练和娴熟的外交手腕。

3 offended   

v.触怒( offend的过去式和过去分词 )；得罪；冒犯；使反感令人不适

参考例句：

• They'll be offended if you don't go to their wedding. 你若不参加他们的婚礼，他们会生气的。
• She was offended by the vulgarity of their jokes. 他们那些粗俗的笑话使她大为不快。