the first thing we need to do today is talk about the basics of how to use have been has been and had been with different subjects have been and has been are both used in the present perfect tense and they have exactly the same meaning but we just use them with different subjects we use has been with he she it and singular subjects such as the girl we use have been with i you we they and plural subjects such as the girls now had been is used when talking in the past tense we can use had been wit
h any subject singular or plural for example they had been she had been the dogs had been i had been easy right okay let's have a quick revision do i say john has been or have been has been do i say they has been or have been they have been can i say we had been yes because remember had goes with all subjects the second thing you need to know is that after have been has been or had been we can only use a past participle or a present participle some common past participles are seen eaten and give
n some common present participles are seeing eating and giving please note that we do not use verb 1 or verb 2 after have been has been or had been for example it's incorrect to say i have been eat okay now let's talk about the main uses of these words the first main use of have been has been and had been is to talk about experiences for example i have been to china this means at some time in the past i went to china we don't know exactly when i went to china we just know that some point before
now i went to china when we use have been or has been that means the person has gone to the place and then come back for example if i say i have been to china that means i have gone to china and then come back so now i am not in china now to turn this into a question we could say have you ever been to china the answer is either yes i have or no i haven't another example could be he has been to that beach many times again we don't know when it happened but we know that it happened at some time in
the past now let's look at an example with had been we can use had been to talk about experiences in the past that happened before another point in time in the past for example we had been to the market before you took us there so in this sentence we are talking about our experience in the past which happened before something else in the past first we went to the market at some time in the past after that at some time in the past you took us to the market so we use had been here to show that on
e thing happened before another thing happened in the past another very common use of had been is when we use it with the word if to talk about past regrets we can't use have been and has been to talk about past regrets we only use had been let's look at some examples right now if i had been there i would have helped you what are we talking about here past present or future we are talking about the past did i help you no do i wish that i helped you yes i do so in this sentence we are saying some
thing didn't happen in the past but we wish that it did happen another example is if he had not been so lazy he would have passed the test again we are talking about something that did not happen in the past but we wish that it did happen he was lazy in the past but we wish that he wasn't lazy and then he would have passed the test the third main use of had been have been and has been is to talk about a continuous action that is not finished for example let's pretend you plan to meet your friend
at the park at 3 p.m you arrive at 3 pm but now it's 3 30 p.m and you are still waiting for your friend so you can say i have been waiting for 30 minutes or i have been waiting since 3 p.m we use 4 with specific durations for example 30 minutes and we use since with specific start times for example since 3 p.m so this sentence here is saying that you started waiting at 3 p.m in the past and you are still waiting now in the present the action is still not finished now we can also use these words
with adjectives and nouns for example we could say she has been a doctor since 2016 or she has been a doctor for five years this means she started being a doctor in 2016 and she is still a doctor now it's not finished but if we use had been we are normally talking about a past situation that finished at some time in the past for example mary had been working there for six months before she got fired this means mary started working there in the past she got fired in the past so now she is no lon
ger working there another example could be how long had he been exercising for when he hurt his shoulder this means that he hurt his shoulder in the past and he was exercising in the past during the time he was exercising in the past he hurt his shoulder the fourth and final use of had been have been and has been is when we want to use the passive voice what is the passive voice well let me give you an example let's pretend you have a doctor's appointment tomorrow at 10 a.m but your appointment
is changed from 10 am to 10 30 am the receptionist calls you and she says i have changed your appointment from 10 to 10 30 a.m tomorrow this is an active voice sentence this means the subject is doing something to the object now what is the most important thing in this sentence what is the focus the focus is the words i have changed why because they are the first words of the sentence but in this sentence the most important thing should be that the appointment has been changed not who changed it
because we don't really care who changed it we just want to know that the time has been changed so how can we do that well we can make it into a passive voice sentence and say your appointment has been changed from 10 to 10 30 a.m you see here how the most important thing is your appointment has been changed this is now the focus of the sentence because it's at the start of the sentence now these two sentences have exactly the same meaning but we have just changed the focus of the sentence we h
ave changed what is more important in the sentence another example could be the apple has been eaten the most important thing here is the apple we don't care who ate it we are just interested in that the apple is gone now because somebody ate it now with the first sentence i have changed your appointment is a present perfect sentence when we have a present perfect sentence and we want to make it passive we use have been or has been depending upon the subject if we have a past perfect sentence th
en we use had been to make it into a passive voice sentence an example of a passive sentence with had been could be the food had been delivered at that time now you have learned about the basics of how to use had been have been and has been so let's have a little quiz to test your understanding first i will show you some sentences and i will ask you some questions about those sentences to check your understanding number one they have been to africa are they in africa now no they are not do we kn
ow when they went to africa no we do not we only know that it happened at some time in the past question number two they had been waiting for 30 minutes when the doctor finally arrived are they waiting now no did they wait in the past yes when did the doctor arrive in the past or 30 minutes after they started waiting now i will show you some sentences and i want you to fill in the blanks with either had been have been or has been the questions will be on the screen for five seconds and then the
answers will appear so pause the video think about your answers and then play when you're ready to see the answers hey guys it's shane from english understood here i got a question the other day from a student who said what's the difference between no k-n-o-w and now n-o-w so let's look at the pronunciation first k-n-o-w is pronounced no no the k is silent and the w is silent n o w is pronounced now now ow so what do these words mean well no k-n-o-w means to have knowledge of something for examp
le i know how to speak english i have knowledge in my head about how to speak english now now is talking about the present time so for example it's 4 45 p.m so i can say right now in the present it's 4 45 pm okay let's test what you hear i will say a word and you can tell me what you heard now now no k-n-o-w no k-n-o-w okay i'm going to say some sentences with missing words and i want you to fill in the missing word with no k-n-o-w or now n-o-w i you want to speak english i you want to speak eng
lish it should be i know you want to speak english because i have knowledge that you want to speak english and the second one this video is going to finish this video is going to finish it should be now did you know that in english there are more than 170 000 words now because there are so many words in english it's only natural for some of those words to have a similar meaning so in today's video we have a look at some words that are commonly confused by students who are learning english those
words are then and then for since and ago and late and lately don't worry if you don't understand how to use these words at the moment because by the end of the video you will understand how to use these words and what they mean and make sure you watch until the end of the video because there will be a quiz to test your understanding are you ready let's go let's look at then and then first what are the differences between these two words well let's have a look at some sentences so you can see th
e difference he is taller than her what are we doing here with the word then we are comparing we are making a comparison a comparison is when you show the difference between two or more things one more example this chair is more comfortable than that chair what are we doing here well again we are making a comparison we are showing how this chair is different than this chair so why do we use then we use then to make comparisons for example bigger than smaller than further than easy right i want t
o go to the gym first and then i'll go to the shops what are we doing with the word then here well we are talking about time we are talking about a sequence first i will go to the gym and then after that i will go to the shops we are saying that one thing happens first and then after that another thing happens now another example could be i poured my drink and then i drank it we are talking about time again right we are talking about a sequence first i poured my drink and then after that i drank
it so this is why we use then to talk about time or to talk about a sequence to show in what order things happen and just remember when we use then there is no comparing so in summary then for comparisons and then when we're talking about time or a sequence or we want to show what order something happened in now let's look at for since and ago what is the difference between these three words well let's have a look at some sentences so you can see the difference i have been waiting here for 10 m
inutes you see here with the word for we have a duration after it we have an amount of time we are saying how much time some other examples could be you have been learning english for two years we are saying that the amount of time the duration of time is two years another example could be they have been working there for 10 years again we are showing a duration we're talking about an amount of time how much time when we use 4 like this we normally want to show how much time so please remember w
hen you're using four you need to use a duration of time an amount of time for example one year two months three minutes but when you're using four we don't use a specific time or a specific date for example i have been waiting here for 3 p.m no another example could be they have been working here for 2019 no that's wrong because we're using 2019 which is a specific time after four we need a duration of time an amount of time i have known her since 2012. what are we doing here with since what ar
e we talking about well we are talking about the starting time of the event when this event started some other examples could be he has been waiting since 3 p.m this means he started waiting at 3 p.m and now he is still waiting another example could be they have been going to the gym since may when we use since here we're talking about the starting time of the event when this event started we do not use a time period after since for example i have known her since eight years no or they have been
going to the gym since eight months no after since you need a specific time or a specific date for example since may since 2020 since three o'clock he got to my house 15 minutes ago what are we talking about here past present or future the past is this action finished yes so we use a go when we're talking about the time of a past event from now we start here and then we count backwards into the past so let's pretend now it's 11 15 a.m he got here 15 minutes ago so that means we start here and w
e count backwards 15 minutes so we know he got here at 11 a.m some other examples could be they moved to america five years ago or she started her job two months ago in summary we use four when we're talking about a duration of time for example 10 minutes we use since when we're talking about the starting point of an event for example since 2015 and we use a go when we're talking about a past event and we count backwards from the present for example 10 minutes ago and also please note that we no
rmally use for and since with perfect tenses if you haven't seen this video on the present perfect tense you can watch it right here and with a go we normally use this word with the past tense so if you haven't seen this video on the past simple tense you can watch it right here now i know what you're thinking you're thinking shane what's the difference between since and ago well it's actually very easy with the word since we are not counting backwards from the present we are just talking about
when the event started for example they have lived in this country since january this means we are just talking about when the event started we are not counting backwards into the past but with a go we are talking about events that happened in the past but we are counting backwards from now from the present an example sentence could be he moved here two years ago that means we count backwards from now and then we will know at what time he got here and one last thing about since and ago with sinc
e we use a specific time for example since 2000 but with a go we use a duration of time for example 10 minutes ago he was late to the meeting what are we talking about here well we are talking about what he did we are saying that he got to the meeting late he got there after the meeting had already started late can be an adjective or it can be an adverb now late means the opposite of early so if you're early to something that means you get there before it starts but if you're late to something t
hat means you get there after it starts some other examples could be they got to class late this means when they got to the class the class had already started another example could be the tv show started late so let's pretend the tv show should have started at 7 p.m but this means it started after 7 p.m it started late he has been very happy lately does lately here mean the opposite of early no it doesn't lately is an adverb and it means recently or around this time for example in the past week
in the past two weeks in the past month so he has been very happy lately means around this time in the past week in the past two weeks he has been feeling very happy another example could be they have been spending a lot of time indoors lately that means around this time they have been spending a lot of time indoors another example could be i have been going to the gym a lot lately this means around this time in the past week in the past two weeks i have been going to the gym a lot we are not t
alking about what time i arrived we are talking about what i have been doing recently not how i did it and just be careful when using the word lately we don't use lately with just one event for example we cannot say i had a good day lately because i had a good day is just one time so what you would need to say is i have been having some good days lately in summary late means the opposite of early so when you're not on time and lately means recently around the present time in the past week two we
eks month okay you have learned about seven words in english today so let's have a little quiz to test your understanding question number one they got to their lunch break late or lately and the correct answer is they got to their lunch break late we say late because we're saying they got there the opposite of early they got there after they should have got there and also we can't use lately with this one because we're only talking about one time one thing question number two he got to the park
ten minutes four since or ago and the correct answer is he got to the park 10 minutes ago why because we are talking about a past event and we are counting back from the present ten minutes ago in the past he got to the park question number three he's been at the park four since or ago ten minutes and the correct answer is he's been at the park for 10 minutes we are talking about a duration of time 10 minutes so we need to use four question number four you need to be there no later than or then
7 pm and the correct answer is you need to be there no later than 7 p.m why because we are comparing we are saying if you get there after 7 p.m it's not ok question number five they have known each other for since or ago 2012. and the correct answer is they have known each other since 2012. why because we are talking about the starting point of the event we are not counting backwards from the present number six eat your breakfast first and then or then go have a shower and the correct answer is
eat your breakfast first and then go have a shower why because we are using then to talk about time to talk about a sequence first have your breakfast and then after that have a shower and the last question question number seven he has been working very hard late or lately and the correct answer is he has been working very hard lately why because we are talking about recently in the past week in the past two weeks and we are not just talking about one event hey guys it's shane from english under
stood here i got a question the other day from a student who said what's the difference between choose c h double o s e and chose c c-h-o-s-e let's start with the pronunciation first choose c-h-o-s-e choose ch the sound in the middle the vowel sound is an uh sound choose chose c-h-o-s-e that word has a different vowel sound in the middle cha os cha the first word choose the second word is chose choose and chose have the same meaning but choose is a present tense verb and chose is a past tense ve
rb choose and chose just mean to decide what you want out of two or more things so an example sentence could be i don't know what to choose what am i talking about past present or future the present or another example could be i chose the wrong shoes so what am i talking about here past present or future the past now i will say choose or chose and i want you to tell me what you heard number one choose choose this is c-h-o-s-e number two chose chose this is c-h-o-s-e and number three chose this i
s also c-h-o-s-e i am learning english to get a better job no i am learning english for get a better job no two four which one is it let's find out [Music] two and four two and four are actually quite easy to use once you understand the feeling and the meaning behind the words for example normally not always but normally with the word to it's talking about some kind of movement for example something started here and then it finished here for example i went to the bank i started here at my house
and i finished at the bank i went to the bank and with four normally when i hear that word the feeling behind it the meaning behind it not always but normally it's talking about a reason or doing something to help someone for example why did you do it i did it for him this means the reason that you did it is him now remember i said in the intro that normally the feeling of the word to is for movement so this is the first use of two we can use it to talk about movement for example we are going to
paris we are starting here and then we are finishing here in paris we are going to paris another example could be we went to the shops we went to the shops where did we start we started here and then we finished here we started at my house and we finished at the shops we went to the shops so when you think of two try and get the feeling of movement something is moving it can be physical like something that you can touch or it can be non-physical something that you can't touch for example i am r
ecording this video on a camera right now and when i finish i want to transfer the data from the camera to the computer the video is starting at the camera and it's finishing at the computer it's moving so when you think of two normally not always but normally it's about movement we also use two when we're talking about time for example what time is it it's 10 to 3 this means it's 2 50 now it's starting at 2 50 here but then it will move to 3 o'clock so it's still talking about movement again it
's starting at one place and then finishing at another or we can use it to talk about a period of time for example i work from monday to friday it's still talking about movement because you start at monday right and then you finish at friday the time is moving from monday to friday and another example could be i work from 9 a.m to 5 p.m you start at 9 00 a.m and then the clock moves all the way to 5 pm we also use 2 when talking about distance for example it's 5 kilometers from my house to the s
chool so this is still talking a little bit about movement again from here to the school it's five kilometers another example could be how far is it from australia to america again we are talking about movement how far is it from here if you move from here to here two can also be used when talking about giving for example i gave my phone to my friend where did my phone start here with me and where did it finish over here with my friend it started here and moved it ended up with my friend another
example could be is he going to give it to his friend so where is it starting with him or with his friend it's starting with him starts here and then if he does it it will go and end up with his friend it starts here with him and moves to his friend so just remember the main use of two is to talk about movement it can be physical something you can touch or non-physical something you can't touch and if you really feel that you will know when to use two because you are talking about movement what
about this sentence i came here to see you i came here to see you why do we use two here we're not really talking about any movement we're talking about a reason what is your reason for coming here because i wanted to see you so we can also use two to talk about reasons but note here i came here to see you what do we have after two we have a present tense verb i came here to see you i came here to meet you please don't say i came here to meeting i came here to seeing we normally use to with a p
resent tense verb let's look at another example i'm going there to find a new job i'm going there to find a new job why are you going there what's your reason your reason is finding a new job right so that's why we use to because we're talking about a reason and also note we have a present tense verb after two i am going there to find not to find in but to find and the last main use of tu is for comparing i prefer tea to coffee which do i like more tea or coffee i like tea more what about this o
ne i am comparing cats to dogs i am comparing cats to dogs what am i doing i am talking about dogs and i'm talking about cats maybe i'm talking about their differences they're good things they're bad things so just remember another use of two can be used to talk about comparing things now let's talk about four remember in the intro i said that normally not always but normally four is used to talk about a reason so this is the first use of four when we talk about reasons for example let's go to t
he park for lunch let's go to the park for lunch why are we going to the park what is the reason the reason is lunch the reason is eating right but note here after four is it a verb a present tense verb like with two no it's a noun normally when we're using for to talk about reasons we have a noun after four for lunch for coffee for tea lunch coffee tea these are all nouns another example could be i work for money i work for money what is your reason for working the reason is money and note here
again after four we have a noun we have money so just remember one of the main uses of four is to talk about reasons but normally we use a noun after for not a present tense verb eating vegetables is good for you what am i talking about here am i talking about a good thing or a bad thing i'm talking about a good thing i'm talking about a benefit so this is the second use of four we can use it to talk about benefits eating vegetables is good for you it's a benefit another example could be walkin
g is great for your legs walking is great for your legs so am i saying walking is a good thing or a bad thing i'm saying it's a good thing there is a benefit for your legs so just remember you can also use for when you're talking about benefits and good things i have lived here for five years i have lived here for five years what am i talking about here i'm talking about a period of time right five years so this is another use of four we can use it to talk about a period of time five years two y
ears one year one week one day note how after four we say a period of time we don't say a date or a year for example i have lived here for 2020 no this is not correct or i have lived here for i was a child no this is not correct normally after four we have a period of time another example could be i have been on youtube for three months and note again how after four we have a time period three months six months one year one day one week he is carrying the books for her he is carrying the books f
or her why is he carrying the books he is carrying them to help her so this is another use of four we can use it when someone is doing something to help someone it's actually very similar with the first use of four to talk about reasons right another example could be i really appreciate you doing that for me i really appreciate you doing that for me this means someone did something for the purpose of helping you they wanted to help you so just remember we can also use four when we're talking abo
ut when someone does something to help you a chair is used for sitting a chair is used for sitting why are we using four here what are we talking about we are talking about the reason that we have chairs the function of chairs why do we have chairs for sitting and another use of four that's not very common in daily conversation is are you for it are you for it this means do you support it are you okay with it are you happy with it another example could be are you for learning english through rea
ding or through speaking what do you agree with what are you supporting which method are you supporting and another less common use of the word for is to talk about making appointments scheduling appointments so for example you could say i made an appointment for the 10th of july or i made an appointment for 9 00 a.m on monday or if you wanted to ask a question you could say when would you like to make the appointment for okay so we have learned about two and four so now it's time to have a litt
le quiz to test your understanding i will say a sentence with a missing word and i want you to fill in the missing word with two or four and tell me why question number one i am going the shops i am going the shops and the correct answer is i am going to the shops this one's really easy because we're talking about movement movement from my house to the shops number two bananas are really good your digestion bananas are really good your digestion and the correct answer is four they are really goo
d for your digestion why do we use four here because we're talking about a benefit a good thing number three i want to transfer my videos from my camera my phone i want to transfer my videos from my camera my phone and the correct answer is i want to transfer my videos from my camera to my phone why do we use two because again we are talking about movement movement from my camera to my phone question number four let's go to the library read some books let's go to the library read some books and
the correct answer is let's go to the library to read some books why because we're talking about a reason and we have a present simple verb remember if you want to use two with a reason we need to have a present simple verb after it to read to eat to watch and last question question number five cameras are used taking photos cameras are used taking photos and the correct answer is cameras are used for taking photos why because we're talking about a function why do cameras exist what do they do w
e use them for taking photos i do my homework every night no i make my homework every night no i do i make which one is it let's find out [Music] do and make these two words cause english learners a lot of problems but they're actually quite easy once you understand the feeling and the meaning of the words for example do has the feeling of actions and repetitive tasks and do normally talks about the action itself for example do the housework do the laundry but with the word make the feeling is p
roducing something creating something for example make a cake when you started you didn't have a cake you just had the ingredients you had some flour some eggs some milk but when you finished you had a cake so if you start thinking like this and start getting the feeling of the words these words will become much easier for you remember i said in the intro do normally talks about actions and things that are repetitive well let's have a look at a few examples so you can get the feel of the word do
i need to do my homework i need to do my homework is this something that i do regularly often yes probably did i make the homework did i create it no is the homework the result of my actions no if i don't do anything it will still be there if i do do something it will still be there but do i have to take action to complete it do i have to do something to complete it yes i do so this is why we use do here because we're not creating anything we're talking about the action we have to get a pen and
we have to start writing we have to do the homework another example tomorrow i'm going to do some exercise tomorrow i'm going to do some exercise is exercise something i do often or regularly yes probably did i create the exercise no no i didn't do i have to take action to finish the exercise yes i do so this is why we use do with exercise because you're taking action you're not creating anything when you finish the exercise you haven't created anything you've just done something you have taken
some action one more example i want to do the right thing i want to do the right thing am i talking about the result of my actions no did i create anything here no but do i have to take action to complete this task yes i do that's why we use do here because we're talking about the action i have to take action i'm not creating anything i'm just taking action so this is the meaning of do the feeling of the word do is about taking action doing something it's not talking about a result you're not c
reating anything and also we can use it to talk about repetitive tasks for example doing exercise remember i said the feeling of the word make is creating or producing something well let's have a look at some examples so you can see how we use the word make i make breakfast every morning i make breakfast every morning did i create breakfast yes i did because when i started maybe i made an omelet when i started maybe i had eggs cheese and butter but when i finished i had created something i had c
reated an omelette is breakfast an action no it isn't so that's why we use make here because we're creating something we started with nothing and then we finished with an omelette with breakfast another example i like to make new friends i like to make new friends when i started did i have new friends no but when i finished did i create something did i create some relationships or some friendships yes i did is our friends an action no they are not they are a thing so that's why we use make here
because we are creating we are producing new friendships new relationships we started with nothing we started with no new friends and then we finished with some new friendships we are talking about the result what happened at the end another example i would like to make a reservation i would like to make a reservation before i called to make a reservation with the restaurant did i have a reservation no did i create a reservation after i called the restaurant yes i did so i started with nothing i
started with no reservation but then when i finished i had a reservation i created it so we are talking about the end result what happened in the end [Music] now i am going to show you five common ways we can use do and five common ways we can use make let's look at do first do the shopping do the shopping i want to do the shopping tomorrow do business do business we want to do business in asia do your hair do your hair i always do my hair before i go out do something do something are you going
to do something for your birthday do your best do your best don't think too much just do your best so you can see here with all these sentences we use do because we're talking about the action now let's look at make make a salad make a salad i like to make a salad every night for dinner make a profit make a profit the company makes a profit every year make fun of someone make fun of someone the kids always make fun of him at school make a call make a call i need to make a call to the insurance
company today make a decision make a decision i need to make a decision about how to study english so you can see here with these sentences we use make because we're talking about the result we create something for example salad we start with nothing or we start with the vegetables and then we finish with a salad or make a profit at the start of the year we don't have any profit but at the end of the year we have a profit we're talking about the result and something that we created okay so we ha
ve learned the basics of how to use do and make now let's have a little quiz to test your understanding i will show you a sentence with a missing word and i want you to fill in the missing word with either do or make number one i always mistakes when speaking english i always mistakes when speaking english the correct answer is i always make mistakes when speaking english because the mistake is the end result you are creating a mistake a mistake is not an action number two do you like to your na
ils do you like to your nails and the correct answer is do you like to do your nails why do we say do because we're talking about the action maybe you paint them maybe you cut them we don't use make because we're not creating nails we already had nails before we went to do our nails right number three i want to a suggestion i want to a suggestion and the correct answer is i want to make a suggestion we say make because we're creating a suggestion we are talking about the end result number four s
he always asks him to the dishes she always asks him to the dishes and the correct answer is she always asks him to do the dishes because doing the dishes is an action you have to wash them you have to rinse them you have to clean them right we don't use make because we didn't create the dishes the dishes were already there before we got there and last one number five he 500 a week by selling things online he 500 a week by selling things online and the correct answer is he makes 500 a week by se
lling things online we use make because we're talking about the result we're not talking about the action we're talking about the result he does something and then this creates the five hundred dollars i thought that he might go to the beach no i thought that he may go to the beach no which one is correct and why let's find out may i have a coffee please what am i doing here i am making a request i am asking for something what about this one might i have a coffee please what am i doing here i am
making a request again i am asking for something so this is the first use of may and might you can use them to make requests and when you use may and might these are very very polite words if you say may i have a coffee or might i have a coffee that is very very polite but using might in a request is not very common some people would say it's actually old-fashioned to say might i have a coffee please so if you want to make a really polite request use may don't use might making a request with ma
y is very formal and it's not something you'll hear or use very often you'll normally hear requests with may in really formal situations like when you check into a really nice hotel for example the staff members might say to you may i have your passport please or may i take your coat please you also might hear may on the phone when people are making requests for example you might hear something like may i speak to john please or may i transfer you through to another department so in summary you
can use may and might for very polite requests but remember might is old-fashioned and it's not really used in 2020 so if you want to make a really polite request use may i may watch tv tonight i may watch tv tonight what is this sentence saying it's saying that i think watching tv is likely i think it's possible i think that it could happen let's look at another example he may lose his job he may lose his job do i think it's possible yes do i think that there's a chance that it will happen yes
so we use may here to talk about something that is very possible or something that could happen okay now let's look at might i might watch tv tonight i might watch tv tonight do i think it's possible yes do i think that i will do it probably not there is a chance i'll do it but it's a small chance let's look at another example if you hurry you might get there on time if you hurry you might get there on time do i think it's possible yes do i think it will happen probably not it's possible but i t
hink it probably won't happen so in summary we use may to talk about situations we think that are likely to happen and we use might to talk about situations that are possible but we think that they probably won't happen if you're not sure which one to use think about it like this if you're talking about something that you think has more than 50 chance of happening use may if you think that something has less than 50 chance of happening use might so just think about how likely the event is if it'
s more than 50 percent use may and if it's less than 50 use might i thought that he might go to the beach what am i talking about here past present or future past is this sentence okay is the grammar okay yes it is what about this one i thought that he may go to the beach what am i talking about past present or future past is the sentence okay is the grammar okay no it isn't why because we cannot use may in the past tense we can only use may in the present tense might is the past tense of the wo
rd made so just remember when making sentences in the past we cannot use may cannot use may we must use might and it doesn't matter if you think the situation has 80 chance of happening we still have to use might may and might can both be used in the present but when we're talking about the past we must use might i may not go to the store is this sentence okay yes and no this sentence could have two meanings the first meaning could be talking about probability right because may means that someth
ing has more than a 50 chance of happening right but may not can also have another meaning if you say may not it means you are not allowed so this sentence here it might mean you are not allowed to go to the store you do not have permission to go to the store so when you're using may it's better to not use may not because it might be confusing as to what you're saying are you talking about permission or are you talking about probability so just remember don't use may not when you're talking abou
t probability let's make a quick summary of what we have learned today if something has more than a 50 chance of happening we use may if something has less than a 50 chance of happening we use might can we use may in the past no we need to use might can we say may not no we can't because it has it could have two meanings and it could be confusing and can we use may and might in requests yes we can but we should use may because might is very old-fashioned so that is the summary of may and might e
asy right okay we have learned the basics of may and might so now let's have a little quiz to test your understanding i will show you a sentence with a missing word and i want you to fill in the missing word with either mei or might number one i go to the game tonight i think it'll probably happen i go to the game tonight i think it'll probably happen and the correct answer is i may go to the game tonight because remember we use may with things that we think have more than a 50 chance of happeni
ng number two he said he not passed the exam he said he not passed the exam and the correct answer is he said he might not pass the exam we use might because we are talking about the past and we can't use may in the past and last question number three i study english tonight i don't think it will happen i study english tonight i don't think it'll happen and the correct answer is i might study english tonight because remember when we have an event which we think has less than 50 percent chance of
happening we use might you
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