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Viceidol Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

He knew that she may/might not have stolen the money.

0He knew that she 01b01font00might02font00 01font00not 02font00have stolen02b00 the money because she hadn't been in the house at the time.02br
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00He knew that she01font00 02font01b01font00might 02font00have stolen02b00 the money because she had been in the house at the time.02br
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00He knew that she01b00 01font00may 02font01font00not 02font00have stolen02b00 the money because she hadn't been in the house at the time.02br
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00He knew that she01b00 01font00may02font00 have stolen02b00 the money because she had been in the house at the time.02br
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00Please see if I'm right in using 01i00may/might (not) have done02i00 here. I need your help. Thank you!!!0-
  

Top answer

1blockquote 01cite 10Viceidol12cite 10He knew that she 11b 11font 10might12font 10 11font 10not 12font 10have stolen12b 10 the money because she hadn't been in the house at the time. 11i 10This is an archaic use. 12i 12br 12br 10He knew that she11font 10 12font 11b 11font 10might 12font 10have stolen12b 10 the money because she had been in the house at the time.

— Avangi

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10 Answers
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1blockquote
01cite10Viceidol12cite10He knew that she 11b11font10might12font10 11font10not 12font10have stolen12b10 the money because she hadn't been in the house at the time. 11i10This is an archaic use. I think 11u11b10
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0Thanks for your answer!0-
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0May I ask if I can replace all the "may/might" with "would"? Would that be sensible? Like: 02br
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00He knew that she 01b01font00would02font00 01font00not 02font00have stolen02b00 the money because she hadn't been in the house at the time. 02br
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0Hi Viceidol, Someone else should come in on this because there's prescriptive material on it. Would can have two meanings here. In your first sentence, one would make sense and one would not.02br
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00In your second sentence, neither would make sense because of context and logic. (Sentences three and four turn out to be duplicates.)02br
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00If you
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0I'm very partial to 01i00might have02i00, not 01i00may have02i00, after 01i00knew02i00 (and all other past tense forms). You see, if something 01u00may have02u00 happened, then it is possible that it happened at any time up to the time of saying so. The possibility covers all of the past up to the t
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0Regarding your replacements with01i00 would02i00, I think you are just mindlessly playing with words because your third and fourth sentences are the same as the first and second. You're not paying attention to what you are writing or you would have noticed that. 05002br
00The 01i00because02i00 clauses don't make sense to me when
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0I'm sorry that I was so tried from my work that I didn't pay enough attention on the post. Thank you, Avangi and Jim.Your opinion are valuable to me. And I have to thank Jim for his extremely detailed explanation. Thanks a lot! 02br
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00May I ask one last question on this subject?02br
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00Jim said the first sentence is strange because of the context
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Viceidol12cite10what if we simply eliminate the "becuase-clause"? Like:12br
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10He knew that she 11b11font10might12font10 11font10not 12font10have stolen12b10 the money. (I think it's like "He knew t
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0Thank you! Now I totally understand.0-
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