Wednesday 30 March 2016

Modalisation & Modulation

Halliday & Matthiessen (1999: 526):
In English, there are four distinct grammatical traverses between ‘yes’ and ‘no’, two [probability & usuality] deriving from the polarity of propositions (‘it is/it isn’t’) and two [obligation & readiness (inclination & ability)] from the polarity of proposals (‘do/don’t’).