Дипломная работа: Modal verbs

E.g. He may come soon.

The action may also refer to the present but only with stative verbs.

E.g. He may be ill.

He may not know about it.

May in combination with the Continuous infinitive of dynamic verbs refers the action to the present.

E.g . It’s too late to phone him now. He may be sleeping .

I never see him about now. For all I know, he may be writing a book.

May in combination with the Perfect infinitive refers the action to the past.

E.g . He may have fallen ill.

“What’s happened to the dog?” I asked. “It isn’t here. His master may have taken it with him.”

The combination of may with the Perfect infinitive may also indicate an action begun in the past and continued into the moment of speaking. This is usually found with stative verbs.

E.g. He may have be en at home from about two hours.

However, if may is followed by a dynamic verb, the Perfect Continuous infinitive is used.

E.g . He may have been waiting for us for an hour.

In the meaning of supposition implying uncertainty, the form might is also found. It differs from the form may in that it emphasizes the idea of uncertainty. It may be followed by the simple, Continuous or Perfect infinitive.

E.g. He might come soon. He might be ill.

He might be doing his lesson now. He might have spoken to her yesterday.

3) possibility due to circumstances

E.g. You may order a taxi by telephone.

A useful rough-and-ready rule is that rime adverbs may come at either end of the sentence, but not in the middle.

May in this meaning occurs only in affirmative sentences and is followed only by the simple infinitive.

The form might is used in past-time contexts in accordance with the rules of the sequence of the tenses.

E.g. He said the might order a taxi by telephone.

Might followed by the Perfect Infinitive indicates that the action was not carried out owning to certain circumstances (expressed in the sentence or implied).

E.g . He might have fallen ill if he hadn’t taken the medicine.

Luckily he wasn’t driving the car. He might have been hurt .

You are so careless. You might have broken the cup. (Ты чуть было не разбил чашку).

It seemed to him that the most interesting thing in life was what might lie just around the corner. (O. Henry)