might | may + not have + PAST PARTICIPLE (past possibility) – English Grammar Profiler

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‘MAY’ is more common than ‘MIGHT’ and the contracted MIGHTN’T is very rare in this structure.

Here are the most common verbs found in this grammar structure with examples:

  • You MIGHT NOT HAVE KNOWN about the party.
  • She MAY NOT HAVE THOUGHT you were serious.
  • They MIGHTN’T HAVE HEARD that you were coming.

The negative past modal meaning expressed here is of possibility.  Listen to expert examples of speculating about the past with the modal verb ‘may’:

Falcone may not have killed your parents, Bruce, but he‘s destroying everything that they stood for.

listen

Those things may not have bothered you guys, but for someone with autism, they can be quite overwhelming.

Here’s a student example from PELIC:

If I had been more careful, I might not have lost it.

Japanese Female level 5 grammar class

We have joined two different points for this post since there is little to no difference between:

  • may not have PP
  • might not have PP

A search in iWeb for:

might _XX have _VVN

1 MIGHT NOT HAVE KNOWN 1208 2 MIGHT NOT HAVE THOUGHT 1156 3 MIGHT NOT HAVE HEARD 1113 4 MIGHT NOT HAVE CONSIDERED 768 5 MIGHT NOT HAVE SEEN 731 6 MIGHT NOT HAVE NOTICED 692 7 MIGHT NOT HAVE MADE 511

8 MIGHT NOT HAVE HAPPENED

452

It was said, when you were ill, that if you had led a normal life, this might not have happened.

listen

9 MIGHT NOT HAVE GOTTEN 373 10 MIGHT NOT HAVE COME 304 11 MIGHT NOT HAVE REALIZED 301 12 MIGHT NOT HAVE GONE 292 13 MIGHT NOT HAVE FOUND 246 14 MIGHT NOT HAVE EXPECTED 237 15 MIGHT NOT HAVE TAKEN 225 16 MIGHT NOT HAVE WON 174 17 MIGHT NOT HAVE WORKED 170

18 MIGHT NOT HAVE TRIED 167

19 MIGHT NOT HAVE OCCURRED 160

And, what might not have occurred to you is, what are the logistics really like of working on another planet.

20 MIGHT NOT HAVE WANTED 156
21 MIGHT NOT HAVE GOT 154

22 MIGHT NOT HAVE SURVIVED 137

Because of the way that prevailing economics work mostly against them, they might not have survived on the land without it.

context

23 MIGHT NOT HAVE FELT 129 24 MIGHT NOT HAVE GIVEN 122 25 MIGHT NOT HAVE LOOKED 120 26 MIGHT NOT HAVE SEEMED 110 27 MIGHT NOT HAVE UNDERSTOOD 108 28 MIGHT NOT HAVE LIKED 104 29 MIGHT NOT HAVE RECEIVED 101 30 MIGHT NOT HAVE USED 100 31 MIGHT NOT HAVE PLAYED 100 32 MIGHT NOT HAVE EXISTED 95 33 MIGHT NOT HAVE REALISED 94 34 MIGHT NOT HAVE MET 93

35 MIGHT NOT HAVE CHANGED 91

B2 vocabulary: occurred, survived

1 MAY NOT HAVE HEARD 2976 2 MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN 2345 3 MAY NOT HAVE CONSIDERED 1828 4 MAY NOT HAVE THOUGHT 1739 5 MAY NOT HAVE SEEN 1727 6 MAY NOT HAVE NOTICED 1275 7 MAY NOT HAVE MADE 967

8 MAY NOT HAVE REALIZED 812

You may not have realized this, but I am one of your biggest fans.

listen

9 MAY NOT HAVE GOTTEN 665 10 MAY NOT HAVE COME 600 11 MAY NOT HAVE RECEIVED 590 12 MAY NOT HAVE HAPPENED 564 13 MAY NOT HAVE TAKEN 500 14 MAY NOT HAVE WON 460 15 MAY NOT HAVE GONE 452 16 MAY NOT HAVE FOUND 435 17 MAY NOT HAVE WORKED 422 18 MAY NOT HAVE CHANGED 376 19 MAY NOT HAVE GIVEN 339 20 MAY NOT HAVE WANTED 322 21 MAY NOT HAVE USED 306 22 MAY NOT HAVE UNDERSTOOD 306 23 MAY NOT HAVE REACHED 299 24 MAY NOT HAVE TRIED 292 25 MAY NOT HAVE REALISED 284 26 MAY NOT HAVE MET 283 27 MAY NOT HAVE READ 277 28 MAY NOT HAVE OCCURRED 274 29 MAY NOT HAVE LIKED 256

30 MAY NOT HAVE PLAYED 254

B1:
considered, noticed, reached, realized