atw: Re: US/Aus English [wandering OT]

OK let's look at the Style Manual

The 5th edition of the Style Manual has a beautifully lucid (of course!)
explanation of when to use may and might. Here it is:

1.22 The words 'may' and 'might' are closely related; but they often
serve quite different
purposes and should be used correctly. If you are talking about the
past, then what may have happened is a possibility, but you do not know
whether it was so or not. What might have happened did not happen-but
under other circumstances it could have. At the time of the turmoil in
Fiji, a news reader announced:

"The Prime Minister of Fiji said this morning that Australia and New
Zealand may have saved  democracy in his country by invading."

This clearly said to startled listeners that Australia and New Zealand
had in fact invaded Fiji, but the outcome was still uncertain. It turned
out, however, that what the Prime Minister meant (or perhaps said, but
was wrongly reported) was that those countries might have saved
democracy
had they invaded-but they did not. Obviously, this is an important
difference and one that writers should be careful to maintain.





-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Michael Edward
Granat
Sent: Monday, 24 October 2005 14:57 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: megranat@xxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: SEC: UNCLASS RE: US/Aus English

Also Bob (T),

Our wind and rain-swept central North American colleagues
tend to use "may" where one should probably use "might".

Something that has been catching on here in the media.

Rather, "may" implies that permission is being granted for
the act or operation in question to occur, where "might"
implies the possibility of lilelihood of its occurence.

For example, in terms of a May / Might substitution
commonly observed and heard on ABC TV.

May example:
The following program <has permission to> contain language
which (should have been "that") <has permission to> offend
some viewers.

Might example:
The following program <is likely to> contain language
which (should have been "that") <could possibly> offend
some viewers.

More often than not, "Might" is right yet "May" has its way.

Why, I do not know, apart from the influence of saturation
US sourced and centric programming in our local television
schedules.

HTH.

Michael

-- 
Michael Granat
Write Ideas*
Carnegie, Victoria, Australia.
E-mail:         writeideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Web:            www.writeideas.com.au

*Trading As business #0828673K
Registered (1987) Corporate Affairs Victoria

Plain English Technical Communication.
Advertising Copywriting.
Business Writing.
Web & Direct Marketing Content Writing.

E&OE - Errors & Omissions Excepted



----- Message from Bob Trussler ---------
atw: Re: US/Aus English [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
From: Bob.Trussler@xxxxxxxxxxx
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 11:58:03 +1000

I agree with Bede.
There is also different usage for THAT and WHICH.
I don't remember the details right now.  It is not the opposite of our
usage, and it can stop them in their tracks.
_____________
Bob Trussler

----- End message from Bob Trussler -----


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