Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Presentation plan
A. Definitions and distinctions (mood, modality)
B. Concepts of modality
C. Ways of expressing modality
D. Types of modality
E. Modal verbs.
Mood
Moods
Indicative - the speakers evaluation of a state/event to be a fact or
something real.
They work hard for their daily bread.
Modality
(1) the speakers relation to reality
(2) the speakers evaluation of state-of-affairs
(3) the speakers cognitive, emotive, or volitional
qualification of a state-of-affairs.
Scale of certainty
In an impersonal tone, in declarative sentences,
speakers may express:
(i) certainty:
He is certain to be there.
It is inevitable that there will be a violent outcome.
(ii) probability:
(iii) possibility:
Scale of certainty II
In a personal tone, in declarative sentences, speakers may
express their own:
(i) conviction (believe, be + convinced, positive, confident, sure,
certain):
I am sure our football team will win tonight.
(ii) conjecture (think, presume, suppose, infer, daresay, expect,
judge, conclude, trust, be of the opinion, assume, hold, suspect,
subscribe to the view that, anticipate, foresee, predict, prophesy,
consider, reckon, surmise, guess, imagine, conjecture):
I think they will be here in time.
(iii) doubt (wonder, be + skeptical, doubtful, dubious):
I doubt whether there is any hope for him.
(iv) disbelief (doubt, wonder, be +skeptical, doubtful, dubious +
negative):
I dont believe in your managerial skills.
Semantic interpretation
Means of expressing
modality
Grammatical
Lexical
Morphological
Syntactic
Rhetorical
proverbs
Morphological means
(nominal constructions)
Morphological means
modal adverbs: probably, possibly, surely,
merely.
oh! (surprise)
ah! (satisfaction, recognition)
aha! (jubilant satisfaction, recognition)
yippee! (excitement, delight)
ouch! / ow! / ooh! (pain)
ugh! (disgust)
Morphological means
(lexical verbs)
lexical verbs the verbs in this group express such notions as:
asserting (believe, consider, think, reckon)
I believe he will be successful in his career.
evaluating (suspect, guess)
The detainees are suspected to belong to terrorist
organizations.
requesting (beg, require, request, invite)
We request your presence with our anniversary.
suggesting (advise, suggest, suppose, presume)
Emily advised Donald to be more cautious.
exercising authority (allow, command, guarantee, forbid,
nominate, wish, declare, proclaim, warn)
The doctor did not allow any civilian to enter the hospital.
She was about to leave the room when the phone rang.
She neednt pay for that bill, I have already done it.
Dare he steal his brothers money?
Syntactic means
If-clauses used to express doubt or uncertainty:
Syntactic means II
Exclamations and exclamatory sentences:
Hasnt she lost weight! (She has lost weight, hasnt she?)
Rhetorical means
Repetitions:
Emphatic means:
Types of modality
logical
epistemic
deontic
Logical scale
The logical scale relates:
necessity truth possibility.
Thus:
possible is entailed by necessary and it
implicates the negation of necessary, but
only if it is regarded as a non-logical
relationship.
Epistemic scale
epistemic scale relates: certainty probability possibility.
Epistemic scale II
Prediction - would (narratives) be apt to (repeated
states/happenings):
The stage director noticed that Brad Pit was apt to play complex characters.
Your mobile phone must be in your bag (subjective: I know you keep it there)
Your mobile phone has to be in your bag (more objective: ladies keep it there)
clauses - can:
Deontic scale
strong obligation (request) weak obligation (suggestion)
permission.
You must observe the deadline or else you may miss the opportunity.
Dynamic (neutral/able/ability)
modality Hornby (1963:228)
(1) ability physical power or capacity, or from knowledge or skill.
This box is very heavy, can you lift it?
Grannie is over seventy but she can still read without glasses.
Can you only understand Swedish or can you speak it as
well?
(2) ability resulting from circumstances be in a position to
Can you come to the meeting tomorrow? (Are you free to do
so/in a position to do so?)
Can you lend me five pounds? (Are you in a position to do
so?)
Dynamic modality II
detectable when can means possible for and must is used to
indicate necessary for.
The tutor can give you the right answer. (meaning: it is possible for
him to give you the right answer).
You must leave your valuables in the hotel safe because we do not
feel responsible for things stolen from the hotel rooms. (meaning: it is
necessary for you to )
A skillful professional like him can fix your boat in less that a week.
If only the headmaster will give us an interview!
Morphological features of
modal verbs
Can vs to can:
Third person:
forms:
Conclusions