Lesson 9: May, might

May is used to express (a) permission and (b) possibility.

(a) Permission:

You may go now.

May I come in sir?

May I help you?

May I sit here?

(b) Possibility:

It may rain.

You may pass.

He may have committed the crime.

He may recover soon.

Might is the past form of may.  Might is used to express the following:

(a) Mild form of request:

Might I do it now?

(b) Future possibility:

He might recover soon.

It might rain tomorrow.

(c) Unfulfilled condition:

He might have succeeded if he had the support of the people.

I might become an engineer when I grow up, but I doubt it.

Learn the list of the words given below and then read the paragraph following it.

Flame	Fire
Escape	Flee, run away
Vast	Huge
Calm	Peaceful, quiet
Repulse	Drive back, unpleasant
Bitter	Sour
Ill will	Animosity, hostility

There was never an occasion when Buddha flamed in anger, never an incident when an unkind word escaped from his lips.  He had vast tolerance for his kind.  He met opposition with calm and confidence.  On one of his rounds, he was repulsed by a householder with bitter words of abuse.  He replied, “Friend, if a householder sets food before a beggar and the beggar refuses to accept the food, to whom does the food then belong?”  The man replied, “Why, to the householder, of course.”  Buddha said, “Then if I refuse to accept your abuse and ill will, it returns to you, does it not?  But I must go poorer, because I have lost a friend.”

DID YOU KNOW

The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it has already been digested by a bee.

Mary Stuart became the Queen of Scotland when she was six years old.

A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years.

The world’s longest human nose was 7.5 inches long.

LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE

Teacher:  What will happen if a third world war breaks out?

Student:  We will have a new chapter in our history book, sir.

Customer:  Waiter, there is a fly in my soup.

Waiter:  Don’t worry sir, the spider on the bread will take care of it.

Hotel Owner (to the new waiter):  You have been here less than a week and you have already broken more dishes than the total of your three weeks’ salary.  How can you handle this problem in the future?

Waiter:  Well, sir, you could give me a raise in salary!

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