XXV. Modal words

The distinction between modal words and adverbs is based on two criteria: 1. Their meaning: modal words express the speaker’s attitude to reality of the action expressed in the sentence, 2. Their syntactical function: they are not adverbial modifiers, but parenthesis.

They can be classified into groups according to their meaning: expressing certainty, such as certainly, surely, undoubtedly; those expressing doubt, such as perhaps, maybe, possibly, etc.

If the modal word in the sentence is eliminated, the whole thought will lose the modal colouring and will appear to be stated as a fact, without any specific mention of the speaker’s attitude: She is a delicate little thing, perhaps nobody but me knows how delicate.

A modal word can also make up a sentence by itself. This happens when it is used to answer a general question: Certainly., Perhaps., Maybe. Certainly, I am.

The problem of modal words is connected with the very difficult problem of modality as a whole.

Glossary of linguistic terms:

1. parenthesis – вводные слова

Additional reading

1. стр. 164-165

2. стр. 89-90

SYNTAX