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Modals

The document appears to be describing levels of certainty or obligation associated with various modal verbs in English such as must, should, may, might, etc. It assigns numbers from 90 to 10 to each modal verb to indicate the strength of certainty or obligation implied by the verb. For example, "must" is assigned 90 to indicate the highest level of intrinsic obligation, while "may" is assigned 30 to indicate lower level present possibility.

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Roz M Leds
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
45 views1 page

Modals

The document appears to be describing levels of certainty or obligation associated with various modal verbs in English such as must, should, may, might, etc. It assigns numbers from 90 to 10 to each modal verb to indicate the strength of certainty or obligation implied by the verb. For example, "must" is assigned 90 to indicate the highest level of intrinsic obligation, while "may" is assigned 30 to indicate lower level present possibility.

Uploaded by

Roz M Leds
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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% must have to 90 X

intrinsic obligation: yourself (tiene) obligation: myself (debe)

extrinsic deduction [DON T HAVE TO] if you like [MUSTN T] law XxX

will would

80 70 volition: intention/willingness

deduction/prediction/logical certaintly [I WAS HAPPY WHEN HE LEFT, HE WOULD TALK ABOUT PEOPLE BEHIND THEIR BACKS]

should ought to

60 60

advice/ obligation:responsability obligation:authority

deduction [THEY SHOULD BE AT HOME BY NOW] [YOU SHOULD DO AS I SAY]

possibility without reference can 50 [CAN WELL DO STH] what we think or feel now present possibility with reference to P_P_F permission/ ability could 40 [I COULD BE IN PARIS TOMORROW] Irritation [YOU COULD PRACTISE A BIT MORE]

present possibility with reference to P_P_F may 30 permission (polite) [HOW MAY I HELP YOU] [YOU MIGHT WELL LIVE A LONG AND WEALTHY LIFE] [IT MAY BE A GOOD CONCERT] present possibility with reference to P_P_F/ irritation [YOU MIGHT BE RIGHT] [YOU MIGHT HAVE TOLD ME YOU WOULD BE COMING LATE]

might

20

need

Necessity [NEED I SAY MORE?]

Don t need/have: no fue necessario, no lo hice Needn t have to: no fue necessario, pero lo hice Insistence [YOU SHALL DO AS I SAY] [HE SHALL BE PUNISHED]

shall

intention (1 person) [I SHAN T BE LONG] [WE SHALL LET YOU KNOW OUR DECISION] prediction

dare

unwillingness

possibility

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