MODALS

Modals functions:

Modal auxiliary verbs give more information about the function of the main verb that follows it. Although having a great variety of communicative functions, these functions can all be related to a scale ranging from possibility ("may") to necessity ("must"). Within this scale there are two functional divisions:

• epistemic, concerned with the theoretical possibility of propositions being true or not true (including likelihood, and certainty); and
• deontic, concerned with possibility and necessity in terms of freedom to act (including ability, permission, and duty).

The following sentences illustrate the two uses of must:

• epistemic: You must be starving. 
• deontic: You must leave now.
• ambiguous: You must speak Spanish.
  • epistemic = "It is surely the case that you speak Spanish.
  • deontic = "It is a requirement that you speak Spanish.

Epistemic modals can be analyzed as raising verbs , while deontic modals can be analyzed as control verbs.

Another use of modal auxiliaries is to indicate "dynamic modality", which refer to properties such as ability or disposition. Some examples of this are "can" in English, "können" in German, and "possum" in Latin. For example, "I can say that in English," "Ich kann das auf Deutsch sagen," and "Illud Latine dicere possum."

WHEN DO YOU USE THEM MODALS ?The combination of helping verbs with main verbs creates what are called verb phrases or verb strings. In the following sentence, "will have been" are helping or auxiliary verbs and "studying" is the main verb; the whole verb string is underlined

How do we use Modals?

Modals have always differed from ordinary verbs in Germanic, and in the course of the history of English, they have diverged from verbs even further, to the point where they now belong to a syntactic category of their own. Because many modals have meanings that are often expressed in other languages by verbal inflections, this syntactic category is called I(nflection). In what follows, we review the ways that modals differ from verbs in English, both morphologically (what forms they exhibit) and syntactically (how they combine in sentences).

 

EXAMPLES:

1.Can
2.Could
3.May
4.Might
5.Must
6.Should
7.Will
8.Would