The primary meaning would be the deontic meaning ('You are required to speak Spanish.') but this may be intended epistemically ('It is surely the case that you speak Spanish').Įpistemic modals can be analyzed as raising verbs, while deontic modals can be analyzed as control verbs.Įpistemic usages of modals tend to develop from deontic usages. ('You are required to leave now.')Īn ambiguous case is You must speak Spanish. ('I think it is almost a certainty that you are starving.')

The following sentences illustrate epistemic and deontic uses of the English modal verb must:

dynamic modality, which may be distinguished from deontic modality in that, with dynamic modality, the conditioning factors are internal – the subject's own ability or willingness to act.

deontic modality, concerned with possibility and necessity in terms of freedom to act (including permission and duty).

epistemic modality, concerned with the theoretical possibility of propositions being true or not true (including likelihood and certainty).

Modals have a wide variety of communicative functions, but these functions can generally be related to a scale ranging from possibility ('may') to necessity ('must'), in terms of one of the following types of modality: In English, the modal verbs commonly used are can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, ought to, used to and dare Function Ī modal auxiliary verb gives information about the function of the main verb that it governs. Modal verbs generally accompany the base (infinitive) form of another verb having semantic content.

Type of auxiliary verb that is used to indicate modality, such as 'might'Ī 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.

What modals