Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 09:36:23 -0400 From: "E. Wayles Browne" Subject: Re: may/might distinction >I've used minimal pairs like > (1) He {might/could} have won but he didn't. > (2) #He may have won but he didn't. > (3) It was possible for him to win but he didn't. > (4) #It's possible that he won but he didn't. >for many years in my semantics and pragmatics classes to illustrate the >difference between logical and epistemic possibility. Larry, do you mean that students are losing the difference between 1 and 2, but still preserve the difference between 3 and 4? Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics Department of Linguistics Morrill Hall, Cornell University Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A. tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h) fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE) e-mail ewb2[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cornell.edu (1989 to 1993 was: jn5j[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cornella.bitnet // jn5j[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cornella.cit.cornell.edu)