may/might
My impression is that semantics changes more often than syntax does.
Syntactically "may" is present and "might" past tense. The first verb in a verb phrase is the only finite one and must be either present or past tense. If the phrase contains a modal (like may/might), that modal comes first (in English anyway). These syntactical rules are very strict (although Southerners sometimes use two modals in a row, like "might could" ).
Semantic rules, if any, are much looser and depend on the listener. You may or may not agree with my interpretation of "may" and "might" in the following examples.
1. "The flu shot may have saved the old man's life" implies that he got a flu shot and survived, but might have died without the flu shot.
2. "A flu shot might have saved the old man's life" implies that he didn't get a flu shot and died, but might have survived if he had gotten a flu shot.
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