Re: What's the difference between the two sentences? (Using would and may/might)
- From: msb@xxxxxxx (Mark Brader)
- Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:25:15 -0000
Hi, everyone. I'm wondering if "would" and "may/might" have the same
meaning. That is, can they all be used to refer to "possiblity" or
"probability" of a certain thing? So here I have listed several
sentence, which use "would" and "may/might" separately. Please do me a
favor and see if they do mean the same, if they don't, what is the
difference? I'll be deeply appreciated if you could help me with
this. Thank you.
* He would have reached New York by now.
This expresses certainty that he's reached New York, but you don't
actually have proof of it.
That's one meaning, but it could be the answer to a hypothetical question
such as "What if he had taken the train instead of driving?"
* He may/might have reached New York by now.
This expresses less certainty, such as not knowing when he was due to arrive.
(BTW, I don't like 'may' here; if you'll excuse the pun, 'might' is right).
If we're talking about his actual progress, both are possible -- "may"
expresses a slightly greater probability that he has reached New York.
But again this could also be the answer to a hypothetical question, and
in that case "might" is right, because the action would be in the past
and "might" is the past tense of "may". (However, having said that,
I must note that today many people use "may".)
--
Mark Brader | "Perl is a minimalist language at heart.
Toronto | It's just minimalistic about weird things
msb@xxxxxxx | compared to your average language." -- Larry Wall
My text in this article is in the public domain.
.
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