may and might are not always interchangeable, and you may want may more often than you think. If in doubt, try may first. I might be wrong, but I think it will rain later should be I may be wrong, but I think it will rain later.
Much of the trouble arises from the fact that may becomes might in both the subjunctive and in some constructions using past tenses. Mr Blair admits that weapons of mass destruction may never be found becomes, in the past, Mr Blair admitted that weapons of mass destruction might never be found.
Conditional sentences using the subjunctive also need might. Thus If Sarah Palin were to write a novel, it might be called a thriller from Wasilla. This could be rephrased by If Sarah Palin writes a novel, it may be called a thriller from Wasilla. Conditional sentences stating something contrary to fact, however, need might: If pigs had wings, birds might raise their eyebrows.
The facts are crucial. I might have called him a liar (but I didn’t have the guts). I may have called him a liar (I can’t now remember).
Do not write He might call himself an ardent free-market banker, but he did not reject a government rescue. It should be He may call himself an ardent free-market banker, but he did not reject a government rescue. Only if you are putting forward a hypothesis that may or may not be true are may and might interchangeable. Thus If he is honest with himself, he may (or might) call himself something else in future.
Could is sometimes useful as an alternative to may and might: His coalition could (or may) collapse. But take care. Does He could call an election in May mean He may call an election in May or He would be allowed to call an election in May?
Do not use may or might when the appropriate verb is to be. His colleagues wonder how far the prime minister may go. The danger for them is that they may all lose their seats should be His colleagues wonder how far the prime minister will go. The danger for them is that they will all lose their seats.
See also grammar and syntax.
measures see Part 3.
media Remember that the media, like data, are plural.
meta- is a prefix derived from the Greek word for with, beyond or after, has long been used before the name of a science to designate what the Oxford English Dictionary calls a higher science of the same nature but dealing with ulterior problems, such as metachemistry, metaphysiology. This, says the OED, is done in supposed analogy to metaphysics, which is misapprehended as meaning the science of that which transcends the physical. Philosophers have extended the usage to, for example, metalanguage, language about language, which is used to express metatheorems, and computer geeks have fallen on it with delight, coining meta-elements, metadata, metatags. The practice of meta-naming is now adopted by those who wish to add scientific gravitas to almost any subject, especially any that is intrinsically jejune.
metaphors “A newly invented metaphor assists thought by evoking a visual image,” said Orwell, “while on the other hand a metaphor which is technically ‘dead’ (eg, iron resolution) has in effect reverted to being an ordinary word and can generally be used without loss of vividness. But in between these two classes there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves.”
Every issue of The Economist contains scores of metaphors: gay soldiers booted back on to Civvy Street, asset-price bubbles pricked, gauntlets thrown down, ideas floated, tides turned, accounts embraced, barrages of criticism unleashed, retailing behemoths arriving with a splash, foundering chains, both floods and flocks of job-seekers, limelight hogged, inflation ignited, the ratio of chiefs to Indians, landmark patent challenges, cash-strapped carmakers, football clubs teetering on the brink, prices inching up (or peaking, spiking or even going north), a leaden overhang of shares, giddying rises, rosy scenarios being painted, a fat lady not singing.
Some of these are tired, and will therefore tire the reader. Most are so exhausted that they may be considered dead. Dead or alive, take great care not to mix them.
An issue of The Economist chosen at random had: a package cutting the budget deficit, the administration loath to sign on to higher targets, the lure of eastern Germany as a springboard to the struggling markets of eastern Europe, west Europeanness helping to dilute an image, someone finding a pretext to stall the process before looking for a few integrationist crumbs, a spring clean that became in the next sentence a stalking-horse for greater spending, and Michelin axing jobs in painful surgery.
mete You may mete out punishment, but if it is to fit the crime it is meet.
meter, metre A meter is a gadget for measuring. A metre is a unit of length. Do not confuse their spellings.
Metrics is the theory of measurement. Do not use the term as a pretentious word for figures, dimensions or measurements themselves, as in “I can’t take the metrics I’m privileged to and work my way to a number in [that] range” (General George Metz, talking about the number of insurgents killed in Iraq).
migrate is intransitive. Do not migrate people or things.
millionaire The time has long gone when young women would think that the term millionaire adequately described the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo. If you wish to use it, make it plain that millionaire refers to income (in dollars or pounds), not to capital. Otherwise try plutocrat or rich man.
mitigate, militate Mitigate mollifies or makes better; militate tells against.
momentarily This means for a moment, not in a moment. If you say We will momentarily land at Heathrow, that suggests we shall take off again almost as soon as the wheels hit the ground.
monopoly, monopsony A monopolist is the sole seller. A sole buyer is a monopsonist. See oligopoly.
moot in British English means arguable, doubtful or open to debate. Americans often use it to mean hypothetical or academic, ie, of no practical significance. Prefer the British usage, but generally avoid if you wish to be clear.
mortar If not a vessel in which herbs, etc, are pounded with a pestle, a mortar is a piece of artillery for throwing a shell, bomb or lifeline. Do not write He was hit by a mortar unless you mean he was struck by the artillery piece itself, which is improbable.
move Do not use move (noun) if you mean decision, bid, deal or something more precise. But move (verb) rather than relocate.
mujahid, mujahideen see jihad.
musical notes should be set in ordinary caps, thus: Bach’s “Air on a G-string”.
mutual Mutual does not, properly, mean common but interchanged, belonging to each respectively or reciprocal. Thus, “Mutual fear is the only solid basis of alliance” (Benjamin Jowett translating Thucydides). However, the sense of mutual as common (as in Dickens’s “Our Mutual Friend”) goes back respectably to 1632. Use in either sense.