In Clauses^x, Modal verbs^x

Hello everyone, I've just joined this forum and couldn't but help noticing this thread. I'm doing some research on modals so I'd like to offer my two cents worth: I will propose that modals bear syntactic tense, not semantic tense. What I mean can be seen by Seqeunce of Tense (SoT) observations....

CJ: I answered this once before. >>>>>>>>>> JTT: No, Jim, you failed to answer it the first time. As I stated, I was not looking for any kind of reported speech. Jim wrote: However, to be more exact, the prototypical modal for the meaning "it is possible that" is "may". Frequent substitutes...

Thanks for the links, Casi. Very interesting. It wouldn't surprise me if there were something in what you say about dialect variation. Previous threads have shown that different people hear conditional and modal verbs slightly differently. And it's no advantage to MrX to feel 'pastness' in...

JTT wrote: Every modal verb in English can operate in past, present and future situations. Modals carry modal meaning into sentences, they do not carry tense. "operate", yes. Both statements are true. I trust you'll find the following site and its links more than supportive, if not...

Hello JTT Hello, Mr Pedantic. May I call you Mr P? {Please don't ever take my direct manner in these discussions as any type of personal attack. I only want to address the facts. If I believe you or anyone to be in err, I'll plainly say so and I hope you and others will do the same for me....

Hello, Jessica. You correctly flagged this sentence as being incorrect: 1. If the mother is not happy, neither would be the child. The problem with the speaker is simply stating that if A is true, B is also true. Hence the use of "will", not "would". The simplest way of making this point...

"Too" is used in positive sentences to add an agreeing thought. It has the same meaning as "also," but its placement within the sentence is different: Also: I was also there. (right after the verb to be) I can also speak French. (after the modal verb) I also speak French (before tany other...

Interesting question! Ok, in the first clause there are two future forms: 'Will note' and 'Will remember' Both are made negative ('will note' with the adverb 'little' and 'will remember' with 'nor') Your query was with 'can forget'. This is a construction with a modal verb (can) + the base...