In Dialects^x, Modals^x

I obviously agree with Forbes: it depends on your first language. I have never had any problems with passive sentences, subjects and objects, the difference between countable and uncountable, etc. because those are all features I have in Italian too. It is not difficult at all for me to use...

Our Living Language In many Southern U.S. varieties of English, might can be paired with other auxiliary verbs such as could, as in We might could park over there. Words like might and could are known as modals, since they express certain “moods” (for example, I might go indicates an uncertain...

Alienvoord wrote:"I might could be persuaded to try that."Which dialect is this grammatical in? http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20001120 Take a look here: 2.4 Modal stacking The complement of a modal cannot be a Finite verb, as there is no room in INFL for a second instance...

Julielai wrote: Just out of curiosity, Mr. P, how do you distinguish a native speaker who's learned a non-standard form of English from a decent non-native speaker? (e.g. How can you tell if a speaker born in India, Singapore or other Asian countries is native?) Hello Julie I'm not sure I...

Milky wrote: <And would you also say that you have no guarantee that there's internal/subjective pressure on the speaker?> If the speaker is not using those modal expression in the conventional way, we have no guarantees. One cannot have too much control over dialects and...

<And would you also say that you have no guarantee that there's internal/subjective pressure on the speaker?> If the speaker is not using those modal expression in the conventional way, we have no guarantees. One cannot have too much control over dialects and idiolects.

From A Survey of Modern English, by S. Gramley. The deontic modal must is subjective, which means that it imposes an obligation stemming from the speaker; hence it is relatively forceful. Objective have to invokes an outside obligation, which takes onus off the speaker. This may be why some...

Note; I look at verb usage from the point of The Principal of General Use. If there are inconsitencies in the way "have to" and "must" are used in BrEng, that is not an unusual thing. Dialects, idiolects and grammaticalization all effect usage choices. I'm more interested in general...

Have to, on the other hand, does not have a strong deontic role. On the bare surface of it I take it as totally crazy (in AmE)! And yet, Deontically, must obliges the subject of the sentence to do something (you must be home before 9 o’clock). Have to, on the other hand, does not...

Milky wrote: Then again: Have to in They have to be in Rome for a meeting tomorrow is also an example of this subject-oriented modality, which is called dynamic modality. Dynamic modality plays an important part in considerations of have to, and its contrast with must. Epistemically, there...