Stylistic Potential of the Periphrastic modals in Context
Modal forms
Meanings
Examples
be able to
It is used to convey each of the different kinds of «potential». Difference is in the past tense: the implication is that the actual event took place.
Note: can is used at least 10 times more often than be able to.
a) We could repair the old car.
b) We were able to repair the old car.
be allowed to
«Permission» as a root modality is clearly appropriate when be allowed to occurs with other simple modals.
Its interpretation differs from might in the past tense. With might, the interpretation is remote possibility, but with were allowed to, the interpretation is remote fact.
a) Will we be allowed to light the fire?
b) Oh, no. You won't be allowed to play with matches.
a) They might have a break after lunch.
b) They were allowed to have a break after lunch.
have (got) to
There is no past form of «must». Expressions of past necessity are generally presented via the form have to for obligations and conclusions.
In the present tense have to can be used in a wider range of constructions than must.
As uncontrollable external source that compels an action.
More typically found in informal speech have got to is used with the root meaning of obligation.
It does not occur with other modal forms.
Mustn't conveys an obligation not to do something, whereas don't have to means that there is not an obligation to do something.
a) When I was in school, we had to wear school uniform.
b) He was really dig, he had to be over 7 feet tall.
a) Do we really have to go this meeting?
b) Yes, and we will have to present our report.
a) Excuse me, but I have to sneeze.
a) They've got to try harder next time.
a) You mustn't drink beer.
b) You don't have to drink beer.
be going to
(the immediacy)
It is not used to express the «willingness» associated with «will».
The future action is related to the present and will occur soon after the time of speaking.
The action with be going to was already planned or decided.
CF: I'm gonna be sick (the reduced form of casual speech shown);
I will be sick (if I eat any more of this ice cream).
a) I'm going to finish these exercises.
b) And I'll get round to the others later.
a) Close your eyes, I'm going to give you surprise.
b) Watch out! The monster is going to get you.
be supposed to
It is used with a function similar to should in its root sense of weak obligation. This is an implication with be supposed to that the social requirement being mentioned is external to the speaker and may be one that the speaker feels is being ignored.
The social obligations are weaker than those marked by should.
a) You're supposed to be studying, not watching TV.
b) I'm not supposed to be laughing about it but it's very funny.
Random Quirk [28, p. 137] gives classifying them as: some interesting information about the «The verb of intermediate function»:
1. Central Modals: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will/'ll, would/'d, must.
2. Marginal Modals: dare, need, ought to, used to.
3. Modal Idioms: Had better, would rather / sooner, be to, have got to.
4. Semi-auxiliaries: have to, be about to, be able to, be bound to,
be going to, be obliged to, be supposed to,
be willing to.
e.g. «One had better (best) do smith» - [25, v. 2; 119].
«If you want to feel good and live a long life you had better take a half-hour walk each day, preferably at a brisk pace». [3; 262].
«You had better ask us about the perfect diet in a perfect environment and how to maintain your good health longer if you take the effective doses of vitamins A, C, E, plus selenium, glutathione, cysteine, and bioflavonoids» [3; 266].
«One o'clock has just struck. I am considering whether I had better wait here for the arrival of the messenger from London, or slip away quietly, and watch for him outside the long gate». [W. Collins, The Woman in White, 2; 238].
«Or, perhaps - NO! it is quite revolting enough to feel that third conjecture stir ring in my mind. I would rather not see it confronting me in plane black and white». [2; 228].
«By whatever other circumstance the day may be marked. It is not the day, Lavinia, on which I will allow a child of mine to pounce upon me. I beg - nay, command! - that you will not pounce». [Ch. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, 5; 430].
«I had not spoken hitherto, and I would much rather nor have spoken now. But the expression of distress in Laura's face when she turned it towards me… left me no other alternative than to give my option…» [W. Collins, 2; 218].
«Many of these visitor were consumptive, who had yet to learn that the bracing alpine air would sooner for their health…» [The Sunday Times, Culture, June 27, 2004, p. 42].
«The one virtue of our electoral system is supposed to be that it enables the people to «kick the rascals out» at election time…» [The Week, 30 Oct. 2004, p. 34].
I.V. Arnold points at modal particles just, only but K.N. Kachalova, [24, p. 303-305] includes too, also, as well, either, else, even, alone, ever, simply, merely. They can express the additional shades (connotations) in context.
e.g. «There was something hidden, beyond a doubt, under the mere surface-brutality of the words which her husband had just addressed to her». [2; 224].
«That was the very thing I was thinking just now, «said Stickly-Prickly.» I think scales are a tremendous improvement on prickles - to say nothing of being able to swim…» [The Children's Treasury of Humour, 12; 42].
«How strange! «cried Elizabeth.» How abominable! - I wonder that the very pride of this Mr. Darcy has not made him just to you!» [J. Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 4; 85].
«But I tell you, honestly, if you want to see me swim away, you've only got to drop me into the water». [12; 39].
«June 19th. - I had only got as far as the top of stairs when the locking of Laura's door suggested to me the precaution of also locking my own door, and keeping the key safety about me while I was out of my room». [W. Collins, 2; 272].
Periphrastic modals are used to communicate a lot of connotations and subtle shades and tinges. This process of activation of periphrastic modals by relating them to our speaking and writing expands possibilities and potentialities of texts and discourses in the frame of their contexts. They convey the identities, knowledge, emotions, abilities, beliefs, and assumptions of the writer (speaker) and reader (hearer); association and the relationships holding between them. The most striking instances of periphrastic modals presented above give us additional material for the practical course in the frames of the theoretical English grammar.
Stylistic transpositions of special connotative value in expressive language conveyed by verbal forms. (Table 1.4.)
l. The Historical Present.
e.g. «Habits of writing and reading in Anglo-Saxon England were indeed largely confined to monastic centers; but from the twelfth century onwards the production and consumption of manuscript material increased greatly, and some vernacular works of fourteenth and fifteenth centuries survive in numerous copies.» [The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature, 20; 3].
«Such verse (alliterative) continued to be written in English, as we shall see, to the end of the Middle Ages and it has bee revived in modern times by poets such as W.H. Auden; but its principles, derived from a common Germanic tradition of oral poetry, present difficulties to the reader of Chaucer, Pope, or Tennyson. [20; 4].
«The evolution of Homo sapiens, being with the same physical characteristics that we possess, was a long and complex process that is still imperfectly understood. The earliest evidence for the existence of Australopithecus, or «southern ape», dates from approximately 2 million years ago and comes from the temperate regions of Africa and western Asia (now known as the Middle East)». [Civilization of the World, 21; 4].
NOTE: The so-called «historical present» occurs in historical information, in rather mannered and formal prose of an old-fashioned tone, and furthermore it is common in colloquial spoken narrative, especially at points of particular excitement. The time reference is unequivocally past. [Quirk R., 28; 1457].
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