On Must be+ing, May be+ing, and Might be+ing

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to provide a detailed analysis of must be+ing, may be+ing, and might be+ing within the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), the British National Corpus (BNC), the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA), and the Time Magazine Corpus (TMC). The COCA clearly shows that the type may be+ing is the most preferred by Americans. The BNC clearly shows, on the other hand, that may be+ing is the type most preferred by British people, followed by must be+ing, and might be+ing. A major point to note is that must be+ing is the most commonly used in the fiction genre in the UK, whereas might be+ing is the most widely used in America. A further point to note is that may be+ing is the most widely used of these three modal verb types in the spoken genre in America, whereas might be+ing is the most frequently used in the UK. This in turn suggests that Americans are fond of using statements with moderate possibility when they talk, whereas British people are fond of using statements with low possibility. With respect to the magazine genre, may be+ing is the type most preferred by British and American writers. It is significant to note, however, that British journalists prefer statements with moderate possibility or necessity to statements with low possibility. However, American journalists prefer statements with moderate or low possibility to statements with necessity. With respect to the academic genre, it is worth noting that may be+ing is the type most preferred by both British people and Americans. The reason why may be+ing is the most widely used in America and the UK may be that may be+ing, with its moderate possibility, is the most suitable for conveying knowledge, academic information, and actual facts. Additionally, the COHA clearly shows that might be+ing was the type most preferred by Americans from 1810 to 2000, followed by may be+ing, and must be+ing. Finally, the TMC clearly indicates that may be+ing was the type most preferred by educated Americans, followed by might be+ing, and must be+ing. That may be+ing was the type most preferred by educated Americans suggests that they were fond of using statements with moderate possibility.