i thought he might be busy. vs i thought he may be busy.

Both phrases are correct and can be used interchangeably. They both express the same idea of thinking that someone is busy. The choice between 'might' and 'may' is a matter of personal preference, since both are commonly used in this context.

Explained by Jennifer
Editor at TextRanch

Last updated: September 09, 2024 • 20224 views

i thought he might be busy.

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

This phrase is used to express a past thought about someone possibly being busy. 'Might' is a modal verb indicating a possibility or likelihood.

Show examples from the web [+]
Last updated: November 27, 2024

Feb 16, 2017 ... ... I thought he might be busy so I didn't force him to have a word with me." But using "I thought he might have been busy" or "I think he might ...
Aug 17, 2024 ... I let him as I thought he might be busy. Late the afternoon, I texted him that he seemed busy (He would text me the same when I wasn't very ...
Jay hasn't messaged me so I thought he might be busy... as always. So I decided to message him first. +. "Good morning, Love! Do you have plans for today ...
May 6, 2020 ... I thought he might be busy so I'd just brush it off. Until it got to the point where he wouldn't text me for days unless I texted first ...
Jul 21, 2021 ... I thought he might be busy or away. Sadly, on Friday people from our community delivered the news and we were all shocked. I will write a ...
Sep 18, 2014 ... I thought he might be busy and would call after seeing 2 missed calls. I waited the entire day but there was no reply. I could not make out ...
Feb 10, 2022 ... ... I thought he might be busy. So when he offered to work with me on it I jumped at the chance. Neil Fox: I saw Ryan was looking for a writer ...
Jun 8, 2018 ... ... I thought he might be busy but after taking to the students it seems that he's always like this. He never seems to have time and I need to ...
Jul 16, 2017 ... I thought he might be busy and would call after seeing 2 missed calls. I waited the entire day but there was no reply. I could not make out ...
Oct 8, 2024 ... “I tried calling him at least 12 times,” Harris said, speaking to reporters in D.C. “At first, I thought he might be busy, but after the 7th ...

Alternatives:

I thought he could be busy.
I thought he might have been busy.
I thought he might not be busy.
I thought he might have had other plans.
I thought he might have forgotten.

i thought he may be busy.

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

This phrase is also used to express a past thought about someone possibly being busy. 'May' is another modal verb indicating a possibility or permission.

Show examples from the web [+]
Last updated: November 05, 2024

Sep 25, 2018 ... I thought he may be busy or that he might not like it. And then he sent me a message straight back saying he loved it and that it was great ...
Jan 8, 2012 ... I thought he may be busy, but his “status” on Communicator was always “green”. Now I started wondering what the reason was. Thought came to ...
... I thought he may be busy so I don't want to disturb him.Then at 9.00 pm, my mom wanted me to sleep because I have to get up at 4.00 am. So I went to my room ...

Alternatives:

I thought he may have been busy.
I thought he may not be busy.
I thought he may have had other plans.
I thought he may have forgotten.
I thought he may have misunderstood.

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

i thought he might be busy. vs i thought he may be busy.

i thought he might be busy.

i thought he may be busy.

Related Comparisons

What Our Customers Are Saying