Re: "May", "can", "might"

On 1/31/07, Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> wrote:
> Standard English uses "may", "can", and "might" in different ways:
>
>         may - permission, "You may borrow my rake."
>
>         can - ability, "I can lift that log."
>
>         might - possibility, "It might rain today."
>
> Unfortunately, in conversational English, their use is often mixed, as
> in, "You may use this variable to do X", when in fact, "can" is a better
> choice.  Similarly, "It may crash" is better stated, "It might crash".
>
> I would like to clean up our documentation to consistently use these
> words.  Objections?
My full support. :}  I like clarity, specially on such important things
as communication!


> (Who says were obsessive?)  :-)