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Could someone help me clarify the difference between these two sentences?

Here is the scenario. Due to technical glitch publishing a sales report may take longer than i expected.

Sentence 1: Report may be delayed. Sentence 2: Report might get delayed.

Chenmunka
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santhosha
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  • possible duplicate of May vs Might in Sentence – Misti Jun 11 '15 at 12:48
  • Might get delayed calls attention to the (human) factor which is causing the delay. Might be delayed avoids doing that to an extent. – Tushar Raj Jun 11 '15 at 12:50
  • @Tushar. Could you please provide me more info on your point? – santhosha Jun 12 '15 at 08:07
  • @santhosha: If you're tell me the report might be delayed, the be is unobtrusive. The thing that jumps out is delayed. If you tell me the report might GET delayed, I immeditely start thinking that something or someone is responsible for the delay. (This is certainly the case in the former phrasing too, but it's not highlighted). Of course, all of this is just my opinion. – Tushar Raj Jun 12 '15 at 08:22
  • @santhosha can you give examples of how the phrase might be used in context? – ethanc Jun 12 '15 at 14:35

1 Answers1

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If this usage of "to be" is in the present tense, it could be implying that there "may be" an existing delay. Such was the argument in the May vs Might in Sentence question. According to American Heritage Dictionary (online,) "might," when compared to "may," is able to represent a conditional clause in future tense. In the context of your question, "might get" may imply that a potential delay could occur in the future, but as of the time of this announcement, there currently exists no delay.

Without additional context, I can only provide this one possible usage/ difference between the two.

Additionally, if anyone cares, I believe that the question is representing two hybrid usages. The accepted usage in the question linked above of each usage seems to be more conducive to "might be" and "may get." In that case, "might be" is most likely implying an existing delay, and "may be" could be a conditional future. Again, without additional context, it is hard to tell.

Community
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Thomas Marszewski
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