Mea Culpa: Might may not always be right (but it is here)

John Rentoul on questions of style and usage in last week’s Independent

Fans at Rod Stewart concerts should sing along to ‘Maggie Might’, a more grammatically correct version of the rock star’s 1971 hit (SWNS)

We muddled our “may” and “might” a few times last week. The headline on our report of the home secretary’s interview said: “Priti Patel admits own parents may not have been allowed into UK under her new immigration laws.”

That suggests that we do not know if they were allowed into the UK – until we get to the end and realise the question is about whether they would have been allowed in under the new rules their daughter is now proposing. That “may” should be “might”.

Indeed, we used “may” correctly in the report itself, in which we said: “Ms Patel later suggested that her family may have been dealt with under arrangements for those fleeing mistreatment abroad, rather than those for migrant workers, as they had faced persecution in Uganda.” In that case, we were saying that we do not know whether her parents arrived as refugees or not.