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A modal verb is a type of verb that contextually indicates a modality such as a likelihood, ability, permission, request, capacity, suggestion, order, obligation, necessity, possibility or advice. Modal verbs generally accompany the base (infinitive) form of another verb having semantic content. [1]
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.
Modal words are words in a language that express modality, i.e., possibility, necessity, or contingency. [1] One kind of modal word is the modal verb ( should , can , might , and ought , as well as oblige , need , and require ).
The set of propositions which forms the basis of evaluation is called the modal base. The result of the evaluation is called the modal force . [ 2 ] : 649 For example, the utterance in (4) expresses that, according to what the speaker has observed, it is necessary to conclude that John has a rather high income:
The above meaning of shall is generally confined to direct questions with a first person subject. In the case of a reported question (even if not reported in the past tense), shall is likely to be replaced by should or another modal verb such as might: "She is asking if she should open a window"; "He asked if they might dance."
The modal auxiliary verbs contribute meaning chiefly via modality, although some of them (particularly will and sometimes shall) express future time reference. Their uses are detailed at English modal verbs, and tables summarizing their principal meaning contributions can be found in the articles Modal verb and Auxiliary verb.
Taken from Latin and French, in English the word “manifest” originally meant “easily noticed or obvious” before it started to be used as a verb meaning “to show something clearly.”
The verb form is formally called volitive, [3] [4] but in practice, it can be seen as a broader deontic form, rather than a pure volitive form, since it is also used to express orders and commands besides wishes and desires. Examples: Venu. ― "Come." (a request or command) Donu ĝin al mi. ― "Give it to me." (a request or command) Ni faru tion.