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is all about the words may, might and could Yes, we'll look at how to use these three little words to talk about present and future possibilities We'll tell you what to watch out for We'll give you a top tip to make your spoken English sound really natural And we'll finish with a quiz So listen carefully Now, the first thing to say about may, might and could is that they are often followed by an infinitive verb without to.
And here's Catherine, hello.
Hello. To bring us our first example.
Catherine, what are you having for dinner tonight?
Hmm, well, I may make chicken curry.
Sounds good. Or I might have steak.
Even better! Or I could get a takeaway.
Not very healthy but very convenient.
So, tonight Catherine may have chicken, she might have steak, she could get a takeaway.
May might and could with an infinitive show all three options are future possibilities.
Good. Now, those examples were about future possibilities.
Catherine's dinner tonight.
But we can also use may, might and could with an infinitive to talk about present possibilities like this.
Right. So that's present and future possibilities.
Now, we can also… Er… Hello?
Oops! Sorry! Wrong studio.
Who was that? I'm not sure.
She may be from IT… Or she might be the new presenter.
She could be the new studio manager.
We're all guessing.
Yes, well anyway, as I was about to say, we often use may, might and could to make guesses.
And we're talking about may, might and could.
Now, for negatives, we use might not or may not, so we can say...
I might not cook chicken curry.
I think that woman's the new studio manager but she may not be.
The short form of might not is mightn't.
But this is not so usual.
And some people, short and may not, mayn't but that's unusual too.
Now, we promised you a word of warning!
We did! And here it is!
The negative of could is couldn't But be very careful with couldn't when you're talking about future possibility or future uncertainty.
Neil, give us an example situation.
Yes, imagine you're in an airport.
Your plane is due to take -off in an hour from now.
But the weather's getting worse.
You're getting worried.
You might say this...
If the weather gets worse, our plane could take off late.
We might not take off at all...
Now, that's all fine but if you say, we couldn't take off, you're talking about an impossible situation in the past...
not an uncertain situation in the future.
So you can't use couldn't in our airport example...
So watch out for couldn't!
Yes, stick with might not or may not if you want to play it safe here.
Now for questions, you can use might, may and could, but a top tip to make your English sound more natural is to use the phrase do you think?
So you can say, might Catherine have chicken curry for dinner?
But it sounds more natural to say, do you think Catherine might have chicken curry for dinner?
So it's do you think, then a subject, then might, may or could, plus infinitive?
Sophie, I think we could be ready for our quiz.
Number one! Which is the correct answer to the question where are you going on holiday?
Is it a. I may to go to Spain?
Spain, or b. I may go to Spain.
It's b. I may go to Spain.
That's right. Number two, which is correct?
The traffic is getting worse, so a.
I may not be home on time, or b.
I could not be home on time.
It's a. The traffic is getting worse, so I may not be home on time.
And the last one, which sounds more natural?
A. Might we have to go now or B.
Do you think we might have to go now?
It's B. Do you think we might have to go now?
Well done if you got those right!
And yes, we do have to go now.
There's more about this on our website at bbclearningenglish .com.
Join us again for more 6 Minute Grammar!
Bye, bye. Bye! Hello.
I'm Robert Inks. And I'm Brian Cox and we would like to tell you about the new series of The Infinite Monkey Cage.
We're gonna have a planet off.
Jupiter versus Septon.
It was very well done that because in the script it does say wrestling voice.
After all of that it's gonna kind of chill out a bit and talk about ice.
And also in this series we're discussing history music, recording with Brian Eno, and looking at nature's shapes.
So, listen wherever you get your podcasts.
