Other means of expressing modality

Besides the grammatical expression of modality, that is by means of grammatical category of mood, there is the lexical expression of modality by means of modal words and the lexico-grammatical way of expressing modality by means of modal verbs.

Modality expressed by modal verbs (must, may, etc.) shows the speaker’s attitude to the action itself – obligation, probability, certainty, doubt, etc. E.g. He must be coming here.

Modality expressed by modal words shows the speaker’s attitude to the content of the statement – regret, supposition, desirability, etc. E.g. Perhaps, he will come.

Modal verbs, which have tense opposites may be used in the Subjunctive (the marked members)

can – could

may – might

have – had

are – were

shall – should

will – would

E.g. He might have fallen ill - mood modality, expresses unreality, might is Subjunctive II present, while modal verb modality expresses supposition - uncertainty.

He may have fallen ill – mood modality expresses reality, while modal verb modality expresses supposition – uncertainty.

We also have the phonetical way of expressing modality by means of intonation. By changing the intonation of the sentence we may express doubt, probability, astonishment or some other modality.

Category of voice

The category of voice is represented in M. E. by the system of opposemes: loves – is loved, to love – to be loved, etc, and it shows whether the object is the doer of the action or its object. E. g. He opened the door. The door was opened (by him).

The active voice is unmarked, the passive is marked in form and meaning. Some forms of the active voice find no parallel in the passive Future Continuous, Present Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect Continuous, Future Perfect Continuous. In addition to two voices three other voices have been suggested:

1. the reflexive – he addressed himself

2. the reciprocal – they greeted each other

3. the middle voice – the door opened.

So Professor Ilyish finds 5 voices in M. E. This viewpoint was criticized by professor Smirnitsky who believed that there are only two grammatical voices – active and passive, which are clearly opposed structurally and semantically. All the other differences are lexical.

An extreme point of view is expressed nowadays by V. Plotkin, who is of opinion that the English finite verb has no morphological category of voice at all, and the construction be + Ven is the nominal predicate expressing state and consequently it is a syntactical category.

Some of the western linguists find it possible to classify English voice into 3:

1. active: I opened the door

2. passive: The door is opened by me

3. stative: the doo is opened

O. Jespersen distinguished 2 passive forms: actional passive and stational passive. E.g. The house is painted white every year. The house is painted white.

The problem of the combination be + Ven

Generally the combination be + Ven is considered to be passive when it denotes action (The house is painted white every year) or the compound nominal predicate when it denotes state: the house is painted white; he felt tired, etc. This combination may denote even an action of curious meaning (almost active). The man was drowned.

Practically the combination be + Ven is surely the passive voice when it is accompanied by an adverbial, a by-phrase or continuous form; and participle II is of a durative (non-terminative) verb:

The door is closed at midnight (adverbial).

The man was drowned by a criminal.

Dinner is being served (continuous).

He is loved (durative verb).

The Passive Voice and the lexical meaning of the Verb.

There is a close connection between the category of voice and the lexical meaning of the verb in M. E. Verbs of weak dynamic force (belong, fail, lack, own, possess, resemble) are not used in the passive construction because they do not express action and consequently the object to them is not acted upon: the child resembles his mother.

All the English subjective verbs (verbs that combine only with the subject) are not used in passive construction either, e.g. she usually sits here; because the voice member is always combined with object words. Objective verbs connected with the object directly are called transitive and all others are intransitive verbs. Sometimes the English active voice acquires passive meanings: the book sells well. The play reads better than acts. The figures would not add.