Topic 5

Mood and Modality

1 Mood and Speech Acts

In week 1 of this course, we introduced the notion that each utterance is a communicative act (a speech act), such as to ask a question, make a statement, or give an order.

We showed that the main resource in the grammar for marking the communicative intention of an utterance is in the Mood (which distinguishes between declarative, interrogative and imperative sentences).

In the unmarked case, the communicative acts are realized as follows:

Communicative act Mood Example

making a statement Declarative We had a good time.

asking a question Interrogative Did you have a good time?

giving a directive Imperative Have a good time!

We also noted that sometimes the communicative acts can be realised using more marked structures:

Communicative act Mood Example

asking a question Declarative You had a good time?

giving a directive Interrogative Can you get me a beer?

giving a directive Declarative I want another beer!

Because the Mood options are so important to the way we use language to get things done, we will explore this part of the grammar here.

1.1 Mood structure

When trying to see what mood a clause has, we have to look at the Mood element (subject and finite). The Finite is the part of the verb that specifies time reference (tense) or the speaker’s attitude (modality).

Janice will give Chris the address tomorrow

Mood Residue

Will Janice give Chris the address tomorrow?

Mood Residue

The mood structure is characterised by:

o presence or absence of a Subject;

o position of the Subject and the Finite.

Mood + / − Subject Order Example

Declarative + Subject Subject + Finite Jane sings.

Interrogative + Subject Finite + Subject Does Jane sing?

Imperative − Subject Predicator Sing!

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1.2 Other Mood Structures

WH Questions:

Who is John seeing? (Obj Fin Subject Pred)

What did you say Mary saw?

What did you say Mary saw?

Either/Or Questions:

Do you want water or beer? (as with yes-no questions, Fin^Subj, but the answer is an NP rather than yes or no)

Exclamatives: What a lovely day it is!

2 Modal Auxiliaries and Modal verbs

There are 9 modal verbs in English:

will, would, must, can, could, may, might, shall, should

All of these can be negated, either grammatically (‘will not’) or morphologically (won’t):

won't, wouldn’t, mustn’t, can’t, couldn’t, mayn’t (rare), mightn’t, shan’t (marked), shouldn’t

Additionally, there are complex auxiliary forms which express modality (BUT THESE ARE NOT MODAL AUXILLARIES):

have to (= must), ought to (=should), be able to (= can), be required to (=must), need to (=must), be supposed to (=should), etc.

3 Types of modality

3.1 Epistemic (or extrinsic)

“Epistemic modals are used to indicate the possibility or necessity of some piece of knowledge”. (Wikipedia)

E.g., It might rain tomorrow.

He must have missed the train.

3.2 Non-epistemic (deontic or intrinsic):

“Deontic modals are those that indicate how the world ought to be, according to certain norms, expectations, speaker desire, etc. In other words, deontic uses indicate that the state of the world (where 'world' is loosely defined here in terms of the circumstances surrounding the use of the modal) does not meet some standard or ideal, whether that standard be social (such as laws), personal (desires), etc. The sentence containing the deontic modal generally indicates some action that would change the world so that it becomes closer to the standard/ideal.” (Wikipedia)

Examples:

You should work quicker.

You MUST go now (I order you to leave now)

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4 Modality in Statements

The meaning of modals changes depending on whether the speaker is stating information, requesting something, or giving permission. This section will deal with modality in statements of information.

4.1 Giving Information (Epistemic)

4.1.1 Probability of Events

The speaker comments on the likelihood of an event actually occurring.

• Talking about future events, simple modal is used. • Talking about ongoing events, the modal is used in combination with continuous

aspect.

• Talking about past events, the modal is used in combination with perfect aspect.

Future Expectation

Strong (Certainty): He will play.

Strong (Near certainty): He must play.

Medium: (Probable) He should play

Weak: (Possible) He might/may/could play

Probability of Present event

Strong (Certainty): He is playing (now)

Strong (Near certainty): He must be playing (now)

Medium: (Probable); He should be playing (now)

Weak: (Possible) He might/may/could be playing (now)

Probability of Past Event

Strong (Near certainty): He must have played (yesterday)

Medium: (Probable): He should have played

Weak: (Possible) He might/may/could have played.

4.1.2 Probability of States

Where the speaker is talking about a state rather than an event, then some variation occurs. States include relation processes (be, have, appear) and some mental processes (e.g., I feel that he is right).

• When talking about either future or current states, the same structure is used: modal-aux ^ main-verb:

o Present: Ask John, he might know the answer. o Future: Ask him tomorrow, he might know then.

Basically, context, and in particular any temporal adjuncts, resolves whether the speaker is speaking about the past or the future.

Future Expectation

Strong (Certainty): He will be there.

Strong (Near certainty): He must be there.

Medium: (Probable) He should be there

Weak: (Possible) He might/may/could be there

Probability of Present event

Strong (Certainty): He will be there (by now)*

Strong (Near certainty): He must be there (by now)

Medium (Probable): He should be there (by now)

Weak (Possible): He might/may/could be there (by now)

Probability of Past Event

Strong (Near certainty): He must have been sick (yesterday)

Medium: (Probable): ?He should have been sick? (doesn’t really work)

Weak: (Possible) He might/may/could have been sick.

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4.1.3 Complex Auxiliaries expressing Probability

Future Expectation

Strong (Near certainty): He has to play. (must)

Medium: (Probable) He ought to play (should)

Present Probability

Strong (Near certainty): He has to be playing (now)

Medium: (Probable); He ought to be playing (now)

4.1.4 Ability

• Modal ‘can’ in its main sense expresses ABILITY, which is assumed to be an ability in the present.

• To describe someone’s future ability, one must switch to a complex verb form ‘be able to’. Note “You can play the tuba tomorrow” would be taken to mean that you have PERMISSION to play tomorrow. See below on PERMISSION.

• Talking about someone’s past ability, we use ‘could’ rather than ‘can’.

Future Ability (He will be able to play the tuba.)

Current Ability He can play the tuba.

Past ability He could play the tuba.

4.1.5 Conditional Action

When some action is dependent on some condition, the ‘would’ modal is used. The same aspects are used as with assigning probability to events:

• Future conditional: simple modal. • Present conditional: modal with continuous aspect.

• Past conditional: modal with perfect aspect.

Future Conditional He would play (if he could)

Present Conditional He would be playing (if he could)

Past Conditional He would have played (if he could have)

Related to statements of desire and preference:

My sister would like to meet Tom Cruise

I would rather meet Antonio Banderas than Tom Cruise.

She would prefer to meet Carmelo Gómez instead of Banderas.

4.1.6 Habitual and Recurrent Action

The speaker states that the reported action is something they do often (habitual or recurring action):

Future Habitual Action will + habitual marker I will play every day.

Present Habitual Action simple present tense + habitual marker

I play every day.

Past Habitual Action would + habitual marker I would play every day

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4.2 Giving Information (Deontic)

The case below involves giving information, but rather than commenting on the probability, possibility or frequency of the event or state, they are concerned with the social rightness of the event/state.

4.2.1 Obligation

Some modals express social or personal obligation of the event or state expressed in the clause. These clauses are thus expressing what should happen (or should have happened).

Strong Future Obligation

will-have-to

will-need-to

You will have to go (at some point)

You will need to go (at some point)

Strong Present Obligation

have-to

need-to

must

You have to go.

You need to go.

You must go.

Strong Past Obligation

had-to

needed-to

You had to go

You needed to go

Weak Future Obligation

will-have-to

will-need-to

You will have to go (at some point)

You will need to go (at some point)

Weak Present Obligation

ought-to

supposed-to

should

You ought to go.

You are supposed to

You should go.

Weak Past Obligation

were-supposed-to

should have

You were supposed to go

You should have gone

Other examples:

You MUST try harder. (teacher to student)

I HAVE TO try harder, if I want to pass this subject. (student)

We HAD TO pay in advance.

You DON’T HAVE TO have a license to own a cat. (absence of obligation; it’s not necessary)

I DIDN’T NEED TO hurry because I had plenty of time.

I NEEDN’T HAVE hurried because the meeting started much later than I thought.

5 Modality in Other Speech Acts

5.1 Asking and Giving Permission

Not all speech acts give information. Two other speech acts which often use modal verbs are those of REQUEST PERMISSION and GIVE PERMISSION.

Request permission

Can I go? May I go?

Give Permission

You can go. You may go.

[You are allowed to go.]

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5.2 Promising

PROMISE is another speech acts, where the speaker commits themselves to some proposal.

Promise I will get it to you.

5.3 Requesting Action

The default form to request action from someone is the imperative:

Turn the light on, please!

However, to be polite, we often use indirect speech acts. We might for instance ask in a way such as the following:

Could you turn the light on please?

The obligation forms can also be used to request some action:

You must leave at once!

You should go now.

You MUSTN’T repeat this to anyone. (action is forbidden by the speaker)

5.4 Offer

Would you like anything to drink? (frozen formula in questions expressing an invitation)

SHALL I carry those bags for you?

6 RECOMMENDED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Downing, A & P. Locke (2002) A University Course in English Grammar. London: Routledge. (Section 44)

Greenbaum, S. & R. Quirk (1990) A Student's Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman. (Chapter 3)

Lock, G. (1996) Functional English Grammar. Cambridge: CUP. (Chapter 10)

7 EXERCISES

Exercise 1: Rewrite the following sentences using a modal auxiliary instead of the

adverbial or lexical form of the modality given:

a) I will probably get there ok.

I ___________ get there ok.

b) We used to eat here every day.

We __________ eat here every day.

c) I am not capable of operating this machine.

I __________ operate this machine.

d) He is not supposed to be here.

I _____________ be here.

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Exercise 2: Use either MUST NOT or DO NOT HAVE TO in the following sentences.

You ____________ become rich and famous to be happy.

Tomorrow’s a holiday. I ____________ study tonight.

This is a classroom. You ____________ smoke.

The continued existence of the whale is in question. We ____________ let this animal become extinct.

You ____________ come with us if you don’t want to, but I think we’ll have a good time.

Johnny! You ____________ play with sharp knives!

We ____________ forget that the children of today will be the leaders of tomorrow.

Exercise 3: (From Downing and Locke 2002) Supply the modal verb which corresponds to

the paraphrase in each case. In some cases more than one form is acceptable:

(1) I - - - - - - - - - - - - let you know as soon as 1 have any news. (intention, promise)

(2) We - - - - - - - - - - - - get away until the end of August. (It will not be possible for us

to get away.)

(3) There - - - - - - - - - - - - be something burning. I can smell it. (It is necessarily the case that ...)

(4)The banks - - - - - - - - - - - - be closed at this time of day. (prediction)

(5) You - - - - - - - - - - - - have forgotten your house keys! (It’s not possible that you have forgotten.)

(6)This 12-can pack of beer - - - - - - - - - - - - be enough. (probability, reasonable inference)

(7) Because of his wide experience, he - - - - - - - - - - - - to find an acceptable solution.

(ability, past)

(8) That young man - - - - - - - - - - - - be our next Prime Minister. (It is possible that...)

(9) You - - - - - - - - - - - - not feed the animals at the zoo. (You are under the obligation

not to...)

(10) You - - - - - - - - - - - - (not) tip the waiter. (It is not necessary that you tip the waiter.)

Exercise 4: (From Downing and Locke 2002) Change the modalised verb form in each sentence below to the past. Make any adjustments necessary to tenses or adverbs, for instance, in the rest of the sentence.

(1) They will not wait for us more than ten minutes.

(2) He must be mistaken about his daughter’s age.

(3) You can’t be listening to what I’m saying.

(4) Ben should take two tablets every day this week.

(5) Lying in our tent, we can hear the wind howling down from the heights.

(6) With their fast patrol-boats, the police can capture drug-traffickers operating in the

Strait.

(7) There may be a hold-up on the motorway this afternoon.

(8) I must have the baby vaccinated.

(9) He will telephone us immediately if he can.

(10) They oughtn’t to be talking while the pianist is playing

Exercise 5: Read and do the exercises on pages 62-63 and 162-164 of O’Connell’s Focus on Proficiency.