may/might confusion

[Lynne Murphy]

--On Friday, January 18, 2002 2:30 am +0000 Douglas Bigham
<TlhovwI at AOL.COM> wrote:

> I also think the age factor in "may" vs. "might" isn't so clear.

Ditto.  I (30-something) definitely have a may-might division, but when I
teach modals, I find that some of my students don't have half the
distinctions I have (and I'm not just talking Brit-American
differences--same problems in US).

Lynne


Dr M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
Acting Director, MA in Applied Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

phone +44-(0)1273-678844
fax   +44-(0)1273-671320