Had Diana worn a seatbelt

[Tdol]

In my newspaper the other day, I came across the following sentence: Had Princess Diana worn a seatbelt, she may have lived. This usage is very common nowadays, but it strikes me as odd; I would have used might there....

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Source: TDOL's Language Archive

 

[RonBee]

Had Diana worn a seatbelt she almost surely would have lived.

 

[Tdol]

That's fine, but I really don't like this use of 'may'. ;-)

 

[RonBee]

If I say "she may have lived" it seems like I am saying somebody might have given her permission to live. A rather odd thing to say, I think.

 

[Tdol]

It doesn't make much sense to me. ;-)