| |
Another way of using the modal
auxiliary might is in
indirect (reported) speech.
In indirect speech, the tense
of a quoted verb (the verb in
the indirect speech)
depends on the tense of the main verb.
When the
main verb is past (and it frequently is), the tenses
of
the indirect-speech verbs usually change to past forms
(even
if their meaning is not past) due to the "influence"
of the main verb In that situation, may often changes
to might.
Examples:
| Direct Speech |
|
Indirect Speech |
| Joe said, "I may be late." |
|
Joe said that he might
be late. |
| |
|
|
Mary asked, "May I have
your attention?" |
|
Mary asked if she might
have our attention. |
| |
|
|
The server asked, "What
may I
bring you?" |
|
The server asked what
he / she might bring us. |
Important: When
the direct-speech sentence has might
in
present or future time and the indirect-speech
sentence has
a past-tense verb, might does not
change to a different form.
Examples:
| Direct Speech |
|
Indirect Speech |
| Joe said, "I might be late." |
|
Joe said that he might
be late. |
| |
|
|
Mary asked, "Might I
have your
attention?" |
|
Mary asked if she might
have our attention. |
| |
|
|
The server asked, "What
might
I bring you?" |
|
The server asked what
he / she might bring us. |
|
