In Modals^x, Verbs^x

{This thread has connections to the "May/might - Old rumors" thread http://www.englishforums.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=74347 and the "Tenseless Modals" thread. http://www.englishforums.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=73196 I've moved the following posting from "May/might - Old rumors"...

CJ wrote: JT, Your insistence on "all-or-nothing" interpretations of the 'modals' is leading you to make some very strange and unbelievable statements. I think it's quite clear that there are past-tense uses and there are modal uses of the verbs we've been discussing. JTT: Could you...

You often stress that the relationship between modals like can/could, will/would, may/might is other than that of tense. Correct me, if I am mistaken or I have missed some of your points, but what is the relationship between the following pairs of modals? 1a. That's not the man I married,...

When would is used to express habit, and a short reply question is added, which modal verb do you use? e.g.: He would spend all day watching tv. - He would? Is this correct? I don't know why, but to me it seems wrong.

CGEL: And should is not used at all with past time meaning. Introduction to the Grammar of English - one of the series "Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics" - by Rodney Huddleston: The past tense of shall is should , and this occurs as the counterpart of shall in the backshifting and...

CJ: It seems to say that these verbs can occur in any tense; therefore they do not have any tense. JTT: That's correct, Jim, you're getting there. "CAN OCCUR" are the operative words. In modern English, modal auxiliary verbs are special types of verbs, tenseless verbs which carry modal...

JTT: "The possibility started yesterday. It therefore started in the past." But it has not come to fruition. It can have no past tense because nothing has past, ie. nothing has finished. How curious. A possibility has no past? Maybe I misremembered the conversation with Casi: ...

#2: On Wednesday, I tell CJ what I said on Tuesday. The possibility started yesterday. It therefore started in the past. >> Two major problems with your theory, Mr P. 1. "The possibility started yesterday. It therefore started in the past." And what it started with was a "may"...

JTT wrote: You couldn't have done more than glanced at the box "May/might", at the 'commnet' site, Mr P. If you had, you'd have noticed the glaring inconsistencies that show "that different people DO NOT hear conditional and modal verbs slightly differently. No need for all caps, JTT....

1. 2003 - GWB: The Iraqis are going to hold elections in Iraq in January 2005. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr P: In #1, GWB situates the intention in the present. JTT: No it doesn't Mr P. GWB's speech clearly situates the...