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The Modal Verb Should and the Variety of Its Functions MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature The modal verb should and the variety of its functions Bachelor thesis Brno 2017 Author: Ing. Helena Budínová Supervisor: Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph.D. Abstrakt Název: Modální sloveso should a všechny podoby jeho použití Shrnutí: Hlavním cílem této bakalářské práce je kompletní analýza informací o modálním slovese shall a should v daném vzorku anglických gramatik za účelem vytvořit ucelený soubor informací a současně identifikovat rozdílné informace uváděné k této problematice. Práce je členěna do kapitol od teoretického úvodu, přes jednotlivé problematiky výskytu modálního slovesa shall a should až k závěru shrnující výsledky analýzy a naplnění či vyvrácení hypotéz. Klíčová slova: shall, should, modální sloveso, modalita Abstract Title: The modal verb should and the variety of its functions Summary: The main objective of this thesis is a complete analysis on the modal verb should in a given sample of English grammar books in order to create a comprehensive set of information and simultaneously identify different information presented on this issue. The work is divided into chapters of theoretical introduction, over various issues of occurence of modal verbs shall and should to a conclusion summarizing the results of the analysis and proving or disproving given hypotheses. Key words: shall, should, modal verb, modality 2 Prohlášení Prohlašuji, že jsem bakalářskou práci vypracovala samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č . 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů. Souhlasím, aby práce byla uložena na Masarykově univerzitě v Brně v knihovně Pedagogické fakulty a zpřístupněna ke studijním účelům. V Brně, 15.4. 2017 Ing. Helena Budínová……………….. 3 Acknowledgements Hereby I would like to express my big gratitude to my supervisor, Mgr. Radek Vogel,PhD., who always devoted his precious time and provided valuable advice and active encouragement as regards my writing this thesis. The most I would like to thank to my whole family for their immense moral support, especially to my lovely mother. 4 TABLE OF CONTENT 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 7 2. Modal verb and modality .................................................................................... 9 2.1. What is a modal verb? ................................................................................... 9 2.2. What is mood and modality? ........................................................................ 10 2.3. Types of modal verbs and types of moods they can represent ..................... 13 2.4. Importance of knowledge of modals ............................................................ 15 3. Modal verb should ............................................................................................. 16 4. Objectives of the study and hypothesis ............................................................ 18 5. Primary function of modal verbs shall ........................................................... 19 5.1. Shall in legal documents ............................................................................... 21 6. Primary function of modal verb should .......................................................... 24 6.1. Should in negative and interrogative clauses ................................................ 24 6.2. Should and the scope of the perfect .............................................................. 25 6.3. Should according to the type of modality ..................................................... 25 7. Uses of modal verb ought to instead of should................................................. 28 8. Modal verb should as alternative to the subjunctive ...................................... 30 8.1. If replaced by should ..................................................................................... 31 8.2. Putative should .............................................................................................. 31 9. Other uses of modal verb should ...................................................................... 36 10. Interpretation of findings .................................................................................. 38 11. Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 39 List of references ......................................................................................................... 40 5 List of abbreviations AmE American English BrE British English e.g. for example Ex. example i.e. that is pl. plural sg. singular 6 1. INTRODUCTION In English grammar, modal verbs are a special group of verbs that help to give a special meaning to a full verb and help to express the accurate mood of the information hidden within the utterance. They have many specific features that differentiate them from full verbs. Thanks to them the full verb indicate the right type of modality that is: ability, duty, obligation, possibility, suggestion, feeling, opinion, advisability or arrangement and the speaker is able to express a large scale of various smaller or bigger changes in temper as well as differentiate one´s state of mind. The modal verb should is one of modal verbs that help to express large scale of emotions of the sender. What is fascinating, there is no such a modal verb that would have such a large scale of possible uses and would be able to help to create so many various couplings in terms of a morfological service on a syntactical level. In some cases the modal verb should is still used just as the past form of shall. Or is replaced by modal verb ought to, or by would or could, or can be used as a marker of hypothetical or putative meaning. It is also used to express personal reactions to events, in questions expressing irritation or inability to understand, or with adjectives to express the idea that something must be done or is important. In negative form the modal verb ought to is not common and is often replaced by shouldn´t or should not. In order to find out all these special cases of possible use of modal verbs shall and should and of their negative forms there will be an interesting survey into the grammatical world with its specific rules that nowadays retreat or collide with colloquial use in standard English, since the historical retrospective till the modern, often colloquial means of language of modern English. The main aim of this survey is to collect all available information and sources that provide the various examples and explanations of use of the above mentioned modal verbs in order to submit a compact and complete review of possible applications of these modal verbs in modern English language. This thesis can also serve as a review or a supporting summary to lessons of syntax for teachers of English. It includes uncluttered contents with many examples, introducing observations in the field of grammatical and syntactical texts from respectable authors such as Rodney Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, Douglas Biber, Geoffrey Leech, Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greendbaum, Jan Svartvik, Visser, F.T., Michael Swan,A.J. 7 Thomson and A.V. Martinet. However, thesis draws on the latest surveys and thesis from young linguists, too. The thesis is divided into two logical parts, though there is not a strict division. The theoretical part is providing general information about the grammatical phenomena i.e. definitions and specific features of modal verbs, list of modal verbs, existing types of linguistic modalities and moods of verbs as well as a brief overview of a historical development of modal verbs shall and should. The practical part is an analysis of the findings from the survey into several grammar books that were chosen as representative sources of reliable and respectable information about English grammar on the market, printed or electronical, in order to provide the overal list of use of the modal verb in all possible moods, meanings and other unusual uses. The thesis also operates with results of two bachelor theses analysing modal verb shall in legal corpora and should in a form of putative should. The final part includes interpretation of findings as well as the answers on the hypothetical questions and conclusion with summary of the findings. 8 2. MODAL VERBS AND MODALITY 2.1. WHAT IS A MODAL VERB? Figure 1: Modal verbs. From Info de interés: Modal verbs FCE, Brickfield, centré de idiomes, retriever March 17, 2016 from http://www.brickfieldidiomas.com/info-de-interes-modal-verbs-fce/. Copyright 2016 by ProQuest LLC. A modal verb is a special type of verb functioning as an essential linguistic device when the insertion of which into a non-modal environemt help to create a different understanding of the whole utterance. The modal verb alternatively called “modal auxiliary“ (Palmer 2001,15; Quirk et al. 1985, 96), “helping‘ verb“ (Quirk et al. 1985, 120) or “secondary auxiliary“ (Palmer 2001, 15) has “certain principal features in which it significantly differs from the full verb and also from its relative, the primary auxiliary verb. Those features are at both morphosyntactic and semantic levels. “(Palmer 2001, 15) They do not need an additional auxiliary in negatives or questions. They do not agree in
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