Some More Linguistic Change

You probably remember this lesson from grade school:

Take it from the Tinkersons

“May” is permission; “can” is ability, right?

“May” has branched out in its meaning. Now it often is used as a mild form of “might.” (My advice: if you can use “might,” use it. Your writing will have more punch.)

As in the comic, “can” is moving in on the territory that used to belong to “may.” I had an editor insist that I use “can” in a math curriculum we were writing once. She was a PhD and the boss, so that’s what I did.

“May” and “can” are called auxiliary verbs in this usage (when they go with another verb). Full name is modal auxiliary, perhaps because they change form in the subjunctive to “might” and “could.”

These words in their subjunctive forms have become more or less interchangeable. You can say “Might we go to town?” as easily as you can say “Could we have some more coffee, please?”

I’m not going to try to start a fight about these words, but permission vs. ability is still a useful distinction, and using “may” when you mean “might” is superfluous.

If you can, you may use “might” when that’s what you mean.