May as well or might as well?

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Guest

#28995 Mon, 03 May 04 05:36 PM

Guest

yskh81

#29022 Tue, 04 May 04 11:30 AM

Hi,
ur question is too generalized to give an answer. it will be better if u give either reformat ur question or use some examples..

yskh81

Joined on Thu, Mar 25 2004

Junior Member (54)

Mike in Japan

#29163 Thu, 06 May 04 11:15 AM

I think both are in fairly common usage.
Maybe someone can tell us which is more grammatically correct.
As 'ysk' said you may like to give an example ... go ahead, you might as well!

Mike in Japan

Joined on Tue, Aug 19 2003

Hazzard County, Japan

Rank NA (4,340)

I do like to be beside the seaside

Guest

#29208 Thu, 06 May 04 05:38 PM

I have had to think hard about this one.

I think there is a slight difference. My experience is that most speakers (including myself) use "might". The word "may" seems to be dying out.

But compare: "We may as well go shopping" with: "I might as well be dead".

The first example is present tense. "We MAY...go shopping" (i.e. NOW).

The second is subjunctive (relates to a hypothetical situation - "being dead"). The subjunctive modifies the verb, so that it resmbles the past tense ("If I WERE rich..." etc.) So, "MIGHT as well be dead".

If in doubt, I think the safer course is to use "might", as this would be the choice of most "ordinary" English people (i.e. not professors of grammar!)

Guest

Grammar, Past tenses, Present tenses, Subjunctives, Tenses, Verbs