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MODALITY

Semantic category which expresses the attitude of the speaker towards the state of affairs in a sentence.

Expressed through a variety of formal and lexical means.

Lexical means in modality

Can be expressed through a variety of formal and lexical means.

Morphological

Adverbials

Modal verbs

Perhaps, maybe, possibly, necessarily.

Indicative, subjunctive

Mood of the verbs

can, may, must, should, have to.

Kinds of modality

The three categories of modals are:

Epistemic modality

Dynamic

Deontic modality

It expresses obligation or permission.

It expresses willingness and ability.

It connotes how much certainty or evidence a speaker has for the sentence.

Tess might be in her office

It can't be a rectangle if it has five sides

I shall help you.

REFERENCES:

Cruse, D.A. (2004). Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. 2nd end. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Khalil, I. (1999). Cognitive Semantics. Cambridge: CUP.

Saeed, J. L. (2013). Semantics. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing