May and might are both ways of expressing possibility. Is there a difference between the way in which they should be used?
May和might這兩個詞匯都是可能性的不同表達(dá)。它們使用方法是否有不同呢？

Some people insist that you should use may (present tense) when talking about a current situation and might (past tense) when talking about an event that happened in the past. For example:
有人認(rèn)為在談?wù)摦?dāng)前的情形時（現(xiàn)在時態(tài)）應(yīng)該使用may，在談?wù)撨^去發(fā)生的事件時（過去時態(tài)）應(yīng)使用might：

I may go home early if I’m tired. (present tense)
如果我覺的累了，我會早點回家。（現(xiàn)在時態(tài)）

He might have visited Italy before settling in Nuremberg. (past tense)
在他定居紐倫堡之前他可能去過意大利。（過去時態(tài)）

實際上，現(xiàn)在對這兩個詞的時態(tài)區(qū)分也已經(jīng)很少了，一般情況下這兩個詞語可以互相替換。比如上面兩個例句還可以這樣寫：

I might go home early if I’m tired.
如果我覺的累了，我會早點回家。

He may have visited Italy before settling in Nuremberg.
在他定居紐倫堡之前他可能去過意大利。

may和might有一些固定的區(qū)別:如果事情的真相在當(dāng)時并不知曉，這種情況用may和might都是可以的：

By the time you read this, he may have made his decision.
到你讀到它的時候，他可能已經(jīng)做了決定。

I think that comment might have offended some people.
我認(rèn)為這條評論可能會觸犯一些人。

如果一些事在說話時已確定沒有發(fā)生，這種情況最好用might：

The draw against Italy might have been a turning point, but it didn't turn out like that.
與意大利打成平局可能成為一個轉(zhuǎn)折點，結(jié)果卻并不是這樣。