Person 1: Where’s the TV remote? Person 2: Um… Katie might have thrown it away.
Person 1: What do you mean she threw it away? Person 2: Well she took the rubbish out of
the big bins and then realised that she might have accidentally
thrown the remote away in the rubbish. Person 1: Well did she get the bag back out?
Person 2: No, the bins had been collected by the time she noticed it was gone.
Person 1: I wonder why she didn’t tell me. Person 2: She might have been too embarrassed
by making such a silly mistake. Person 1: You know a lot about an
incident that might have been Katie’s fault. Person 2: Okay fine. It was me. I’m sorry.
I ordered another one on Amazon so it might be here on time to watch our favourite show tonight.
Person 1: I might just hit you with it.
“I might” - What does “I might” mean? Might is a modal verb that we use
when talking about things that are possible, but not certain.
You can use it to say you are thinking of doing something such as: “I’ve got lots of
energy today. I might go for a run later.” Or, you can add ‘not’ after the word ‘might’
to form the negative. “I might not go for a run later. The weather looks pretty bad.”
So let’s start off with things that might have happened in the past.
For example, if you’ve lost your phone, you could say “I might have left it on the bus”.
Let’s break down the phrase “might have left”. This means that you don’t know
for certain that you left your phone on the bus, but it is a possibility.
To form this phrase, we use the word “might”, followed by the word “have”, followed by the
past participle of the appropriate verb. More examples of this could be:
“I might have put it in my coat pocket” “I might have given it to Mum”
“I might have dropped it in the park”
Next, let’s move on to a possibility in the present. Something that could be going on right
now… but you’re not quite sure. *smoke alarm going off*
Person 1: The cake might be burning.
Excuse me, I need to get to the oven. Person 2: Why?
Person 1: Because the cake might be burning. Person 2: No, the cake’s fine. I just burned
some toast. These smoke alarms are so sensitive, aren’t they?
So here’s how we express a possibility in the present tense.
“Might be burning” - we have the word ‘might’ to show us that
what we are about to say is a possibility but is not certain. Then we have the word ‘be’.
This is the word that tells us that the action is ongoing, it’s happening right now. And finally,
we have the verb that tells us the action with the ‘-ing’ ending.
Person 1: I might be walking home from work this week.
Person 2: We might be ordering pizza for dinner. Person 3: You might be waiting for a while.
Sometimes, you might need to use an adjective in the place of the verb,
in which case there is no ‘-ing’ ending. Person 1: We might be lost.
Person 2: He might be busy. Person 3: They might be asleep.
Sometimes, you might need to add a pronoun as well. Person 1: That might be my best work yet.
Person 2: He might be your knight in shining armour. Person 3: You might be your own biggest critic.
Finally, let’s talk about how we can discuss a possibility in the future.
Person 1: It might snow tonight, reaching lows of -3 degrees at 2am.
This one is simple! We just use the word ‘might’ followed by the base verb
that you’re using to describe the action. Person 1: I might have a salad for lunch.
Person 2: I might watch a film later. Person 3: I might call my dad and ask him to look at the boiler.
Ok so now you know how to talk about past possibilities, present possibilities and
future possibilities. But there’s another word in
the English language that is often used interchangeably with the word ‘might’
and that’s ‘could’. ‘Could’ still implies that something is a possibility but not
a certainty. However, ‘could’ refers more to the ability to do something than the wish to do it.
Person 1: I’m so tired, I might just watch a film later.
Person 2: My new TV has finally arrived. I could watch a film later.
Do you notice the difference? ‘Might’ is more to do with whether you choose to do something
and ‘could’ is more to do with whether you are able to. You can’t watch a film with no TV…
Unless you watch it on your computer, or on your phone, or you go to the cinema… Never mind.
Your homework is to write 3 sentences in the comments. One should be about a past possibility,
one should be a present possibility and one should be a future possibility.
Bonus points if you can tell a mini story through your 3 sentences.
You might write them perfectly. If you do, I will press the heart button on your comment.
Or you might make a mistake. If you do, that's ok, I will correct it in the comments.
You might see me again soon, hopefully. Alright, until next time, take care, bye.