1.0 Prelude

Modals are maybe the most human aspect of the English Language.  They have a social function and also the function of describing things from a human viewpoint.  They are very important because they are used to navigate our relationships with others—they have a social function.  They convince, demand, give advice, add intensity to what we are saying, and many other things.  We also use them to describe things, people, or situations, but when we use them to do this they also can add our own interpretation of reality in relation to those things.  We give out thoughts on how likely something is to happen, or they interpret the reasons for something.  In short, without them, English may be sort of robotic.

In music, there are modal harmonies.  A piece of music can sound happy and delightful, or it may sound serious and intense—these are due to music modalities.  In the same way, English modals add flavor or feeling to what we say, and just as people and their viewpoints and feelings are complicated, so also are modals.

Modals are more complicated than they seem. Their different functions, intensities, nuances, and tenses all interact in complicated ways and influence meaning or tone. In the first section, we will introduce and describe these aspects.

In the second section, we will try to make order out of the chaos of modals—the modals will be divided into only two functions.  The two functions are the Social Function and the Descriptive Functions.  All of the other elements (i.e. intensity, nuances and tenses) will be included inside of these two functions.