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For example, the inferred certainty sense of English must developed after the strong obligation sense; the probabilistic sense of should developed after the weak obligation sense; and the possibility senses of may and can developed later than the permission or ability sense. Two typical sequences of evolution of modal meanings are:
Thus shall may be used (particularly in the second and third persons) to imply a command, promise or threat made by the speaker (i.e., that the future event denoted represents the will of the speaker rather than that of the subject). For example: You shall regret it before long. (speaker's threat) You shall not pass! (speaker's command)
The English modal auxiliary verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality, properties such as possibility and obligation. [a] They can most easily be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participles or plain forms [b]) and by their lack of the ending ‑(e)s for the third-person singular.
Matthew 6:7–16 from the 1845 illuminated book of The Sermon on the Mount, designed by Owen Jones.. In the King James Version of the Bible, the text reads: [a]. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Shall is regarded as being a modal verb which can only be used with I and We. However, by analysing the Corpus of the English language we can conclude it is used with other persons as well. For instance, in the lyrics to the song Moonchild, by Iron Maiden, shall is used with you (you shall be damned), conveying the meaning of a threat.
Nemo auditur propriam turpitudinem allegans is a civil law maxim [1] which may be translated into English as "no one can be heard to invoke his own turpitude" [2] or "no one shall be heard, who invokes his own guilt". [3]
A famous example for lexical ambiguity is the following sentence: "Wenn hinter Fliegen Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen hinterher.", meaning "When flies fly behind flies, then flies fly in pursuit of flies." [40] [circular reference] It takes advantage of some German nouns and corresponding verbs being homonymous. While not noticeable ...
In Greek, for example, the imperfective sometimes adds the notion of "try to do something" (the so-called conative imperfect); hence, the same verb, in the imperfective (present or imperfect) and aorist, respectively, is used to convey look and see, search and find, listen and hear. (For example, ἠκούομεν (ēkouomen, "we listened") vs ...