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Modals and actuality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

F. R. Palmer
F. R. Palmer
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistic Science, University of Reading
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Extract

Part of the meaning of a verb phrase containing a form of one of the English modal verbs CAN and WILL1 is that the actions, events, etc., indicated by the following full verb took place, takes place and will take place. I shall use the term MODALITY to refer to the meaning of the modal verb and EVENT to refer to the meaning of the full verb and say that, in certain circumstances, there is ACTUALITY of the event or that the event is ACTUALIZED. I wish to discuss the circumstances in which this is so and attempt to provide explanations in terms of some of the characteristics of modality in general.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , March 1977 , pp. 01 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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