Good question. So 'It would be very expensive to stay in a hotel' means that you're unlikely to do it. You might just be discussing your hopes and dreams. If you said 'That hotel could be expensive' the meaning is that you are planning to look into the prices of that hotel. In this situation you are probably planning a trip and are deciding on which hotel you'd like to stay in you're discussing the possibilities.
In summary, 'could' is likely and possible whereas 'would' is unlikely or impossible. Mohamed A. June 14, at pm. This is a great idea for a future blog post! I'll work on that soon. For now, I can tell you that "would" is common in these situations: 1. Danilo V. June 18, at am. Thank you. June 22, at pm.
That's a great question! Both might and may can be negative modals of possibility in the present or future. Be careful with could. Helen Connolly Guest. October 2, at am. Hi, my student asked me what the difference was between "might" and "could". For example, "I might after a coffee after this lesson" is correct. But if I use "could" in this sentence, it seems to have another meaning, but I'm uncertain of the difference.
Hope you can help me out. October 2, at pm. Your student asked a great question! You can use any modal of possibility in that sentence with the meaning of "maybe" i. But your student was probably thinking that "could" could have another meaning here, that of past ability, which would also be correct.
Usually context helps clear up which modal is being used. Log In to Comment Reply. Submit Comment Submit Reply. Complete this form to create an account and stay up to date on all the happenings here at ESL Library.
View the Terms or Privacy Policy. Log In. As a Teacher As a Student. Search for…. We just might learn something! We might go to the party tomorrow night. She could decide to join us. Function We use these modals to describe a possible action. I may go traveling next year. Examples They might attend the awards ceremony tomorrow night.
He could call you back tonight. We could choose a new color of paint for the bedroom. I might join you if I finish early. The results of the study may shed some light on this condition. Differences in Meaning When it comes to the meaning of may , might , and could for possibility, I would argue that, at least in North American English, there is no difference in meaning except formality.
Note the differences: He could finish his project tonight. Not an ESL Library member? Comments 35 Leave a Comment. Tanya Trusler Author May 30, at am. Reply to Comment. Teacher April 1, at am. Perhaps it's a matter of tone, of context, of the speaker The question may appear quite simple but I haven't found a satisfactory answer elsewhere.
One answer looked quite useful in that it covered levels of confidence and certainty but it was talking about the potential state of something rather than the possibility for the person who is speaking. Are there any differences in that sense? Another looked at these verbs used in question form e. Note that could is the past form of can , and might is the past form of may. I can go to the cinema is a statement that you are able to go without any external conditions being in the way.
But the statement stops short of making a commitment: namely that you will go to the cinema. I could go the cinema. One is that it's an incomplete conditional thought. You could go to the cinema, if what? It can also be uttered by someone who is in the middle of making a decision. What should I do tonight? Hmm, I could go to the cinema. Quite possibly, in this kind of reasoning, the speaker, to some extent, externalizes the internal conditions on which the decision hinges.
It is not simply true that the speaker can go to the cinema, because that is only possible if he doesn't choose some other mutually exclusive activity for the evening which precludes going to the cinema.
That may be semantic the basis for why the conditional-making past participle is used for such statements. I could go to the cinema tonight or I could go clubbing. I know! If I catch an early movie I can go to the cinema and I can go clubbing. Now about may. I may go to the cinema is very similar to I can go the cinema , but as a native speaker, you know the difference between can and may being that between ability and permission or possibility.
Furthermore, modern English, the semantics of can stretches to cover that of may but only in the area of permission, rather than possibility.
Children frequently ask grownups permission using can I rather than may I. I may go to the cinema has at least two possible meanings. One is that the speaker's privilege for that outing depends on permission from some authority. I can go to the cinema can still imply that, depending on the context. For instance, it obviously does in My dad said I can go to the cinema tonight.
But I may go to the cinema also has another meaning: that of possibility, and it means that going to the cinema is on the speaker's short list of possible activities. If an adult states that he or she may go to the cinema, of course we assume this interpretation, and not that the adult has permission from someone else. And I might go to the cinema means approximately the same thing. The former statement informs us about a decision-making process going on inside the speaker, whereas the latter statement informs us that it is possible that the speaker will later be found at the cinema.
Something might happen and something may happen are not exactly the same, because might is used when conditions are attached. For example, if you lean over the rail, you might fall is more correct than if you lean over the rail, you may fall because you may fall states a possibility which is not conditional on anything.
The verb might can substitute for may in expressing a pure unconditional possibility, but the reverse isn't true. You have a lot of very good answers here, and in the answers to earlier questions.
Restricting the search to accessible journal articles from peer-reviewed publications with full text online, I got 4, hits. And her library is not particularly well supported in the humanities. One problem with modals is that they all have very large semantic fields. Which modal is employed in any given instance is likely to be determined not by distinct semantic intent but by dialectal or idiolectal considerations; by precedent context, both factual and discursive; and probably and unhappily by unknown factors which for all practical purposes may be treated as random dice-rolls.
Ignore the pitying smiles. The modals verbs are [can], [may], [will], [shall], [ought], [must]. All of them show historical change in usage and in meaning: preterite forms are no longer restricted to past tense and present forms drop out of use , and meanings have shifted from non-modal meanings to modal meanings.
Some short notes on the history of each verb might be helpful:. Ought was originally the preterite form of owe , but owe itself cannot be used as a modal. Owe started out as a verb meaning "to have".
Must is the preterite form of the verb mote , which originally meant "is permitted to". Mote fell out of use around the sixteenth century.
Should is the preterite form of shall , the latter of which is falling out of use as a modal. Shall originally means "to owe". Would is the preterite form of will , the latter of which is used mostly to mark future tense, and not as a modal. Will originally meant "to want", still retaining this sense in archaic use. Could is the preterite form of can , and both can be used as modals.
Could can still be used with past tense meaning, but usually isn't. Can originally meant "to know how ". Might is the preterite form of may , and both can be used as present tense modals. It originally meant "to be strong, to have power". For [can] and [may], the preterite forms are generally used with a greater degree of modal remoteness than are the present tense forms as other answers note. See pp. Use of the past tense in a present or future action is for subjunctive or optative moods of speech.
The third conditional for "if I could". Imagine visiting someone's home while there is a huge snow storm and your boots are all mucky. Your host may say,. May is used to express something more likely to happen, while might, which is the past form of may, is used to express something less likely to happen.
Could, meanwhile, describes ability and is considered as a polite form. May is a present tense modal and is generally used in formal writing. We use it to give permission, make requests, and express possibility. We also use it to express situations that are more likely to happen.
Might is the past tense form of may , and it is used to express things that are less likely to happen. It is also usually used in expressing uncertainty and sometimes in asking permission as well. Could is the polite form of can, and we use it to make suggestions, requests, and also to ask permission.
Thus, this is the key difference between may might and could. Sethmini is a graduate in English with B. Honours in English and English Language Teaching. She is interested in languages and is an experienced teacher of English. She enjoys writing on topics like art, music, dancing, travel, nature, and food.
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