Modals In English: Might & Could / Talking About Possibilities

Person 1: Where’s the TV remote? Person 2: Um… Katie might have thrown it away. 

Person 1: What do you mean she threw it away? Person 2: Well she took the rubbish out of  

the big bins and then realised  that she might have accidentally  

thrown the remote away in the rubbish. Person 1: Well did she get the bag back out? 

Person 2: No, the bins had been collected by the time she noticed it was gone. 

Person 1: I wonder why she didn’t tell  me.
 Person 2: She might have been too embarrassed  

by making such a silly mistake. Person 1: You know a lot about an  

incident that might have been Katie’s fault. Person 2: Okay fine. It was me. I’m sorry.  

I ordered another one on Amazon so it might be  here on time to watch our favourite show tonight. 

Person 1: I might just hit you with it.

“I might” - What does “I might” mean? Might is a modal verb that we use  

when talking about things that  are possible, but not certain. 

You can use it to say you are thinking of  doing something such as: “I’ve got lots of  

energy today. I might go for a run later.” Or, you can add ‘not’ after the word ‘might’  

to form the negative. “I might not go for  a run later. The weather looks pretty bad.”

So let’s start off with things that  might have happened in the past.  

For example, if you’ve lost your phone, you  could say “I might have left it on the bus”. 

Let’s break down the phrase “might have  left”. This means that you don’t know  

for certain that you left your phone  on the bus, but it is a possibility. 

To form this phrase, we use the word “might”,  followed by the word “have”, followed by the  

past participle of the appropriate verb. More examples of this could be: 

“I might have put it in my coat pocket” “I might have given it to Mum” 

“I might have dropped it in the park”

Next, let’s move on to a possibility in the  present. Something that could be going on right  

now… but you’re not quite sure. *smoke alarm going off* 

Person 1: The cake might be burning.

Excuse me, I need to get to the oven. Person 2: Why? 

Person 1: Because the cake might be burning. Person 2: No, the cake’s fine. I just burned  

some toast. These smoke alarms  are so sensitive, aren’t they? 

So here’s how we express a  possibility in the present tense. 

“Might be burning” - we have  the word ‘might’ to show us that  

what we are about to say is a possibility but  is not certain. Then we have the word ‘be’.  

This is the word that tells us that the action is  ongoing, it’s happening right now. And finally,  

we have the verb that tells us  the action with the ‘-ing’ ending. 

Person 1: I might be walking  home from work this week. 

Person 2: We might be ordering pizza for dinner. Person 3: You might be waiting for a while. 

Sometimes, you might need to use an  adjective in the place of the verb,  

in which case there is no ‘-ing’ ending. Person 1: We might be lost. 

Person 2: He might be busy. Person 3: They might be asleep. 

Sometimes, you might need to add a pronoun as well. Person 1: That might be my best work yet. 

Person 2: He might be your knight in shining armour. Person 3: You might be your own biggest critic.

Finally, let’s talk about how we can  discuss a possibility in the future. 

Person 1: It might snow tonight,  reaching lows of -3 degrees at 2am. 

This one is simple! We just use the  word ‘might’ followed by the base verb  

that you’re using to describe the action. Person 1: I might have a salad for lunch. 

Person 2: I might watch a film later. Person 3: I might call my dad and ask him to look at the boiler.

Ok so now you know how to talk about past  possibilities, present possibilities and  

future possibilities. But there’s another word in  

the English language that is often used  interchangeably with the word ‘might’  

and that’s ‘could’. ‘Could’ still implies  that something is a possibility but not  

a certainty. However, ‘could’ refers more to the  ability to do something than the wish to do it.

Person 1: I’m so tired, I  might just watch a film later. 

Person 2: My new TV has finally  arrived. I could watch a film later. 

Do you notice the difference? ‘Might’ is more  to do with whether you choose to do something  

and ‘could’ is more to do with whether you are  able to. You can’t watch a film with no TV…  

Unless you watch it on your computer, or on  your phone, or you go to the cinema… Never mind.

Your homework is to write 3 sentences in the  comments. One should be about a past possibility,  

one should be a present possibility  and one should be a future possibility.  

Bonus points if you can tell a mini  story through your 3 sentences. 

You might write them perfectly. If you do, I  will press the heart button on your comment.  

Or you might make a mistake. If you  do, that's ok, I will correct it in the comments.

You might see me again soon, hopefully. Alright, until next time, take care, bye.