I've learned from recent experiments of my own that the best thing you can do is test the mic yourself. All the explanations we can give you will not even come close to teaching you as much as you can learn just by spending an evening doing some quick test recordings.
Set the mic on cardioid pattern. If it has a low cut (aka "bass rolloff") switch, turn that off (no cut). Do 3 test takes, or do 3 things in one take. Start 4 inches from the mic, with the mic pointed directly at your mouth. Sing a few bars. Then step back to 12 inches and sing the exact same thing. Then step back to 24 inches and sing the same thing. Do it again at 36 inches if you like.
Do another take the same way, but with a different mic pattern.
Then repeat these takes with the bass cut switch engaged.
Then repeat with the mic turned at a 90 degree angle (pointed at the ceiling) so you are singing over the top of the mic rather than directly into it. This is the "off axis" response.
Do maybe 15 or 20 test takes if you want, all singing the same thing each time.
Take notes so you know what you are hearing when you play them back and compare them all side by side. Dont change anything (preamp trim stays the same, no eq, no compressors, no fx) just change the distance from the mic and the mic switches.
Listen to them all and decide which ones you like best. Compare what you like to your notes and you will learn more about what the patterns do, more than we can explain here in these posts.
If you want to get fancy, do some more test takes, this time adding in a compressor, so you can hear what a compressor can - and cannot - do to the sound.
It's tedious, but it's worth the trouble. I did this with all 13 of my mics, and I ended up selling 8 of them after I realized that I had 5 really nice mics and the other 8 would never match up. I did the same type of tests with mic'ing my guitar cab.
