Modal auxiliary verbs

A sub-category of auxiliary verb that expresses degrees of possibility, probability, necessity, obligation or give a sense of future time.

Examples of modal verbs

can could may might shall should ought must will would

can - expresses ability or permission

 could / may - permission or possibility

shall - to give suggestions or offering help

should - to give advice or recommendation

must - obligation

 will - form of future

Two classes of modal verbs

Epistemic modal - modal verb use relating to belief, degree of confidence and knowledge, e.g.

"It might be true" "I think that it will rain later"

Deontic modal - modal verb use relating to obligation and permission. It indicates how the world ought to be according to certain norms, expectations, speaker desire, etc., e.g.

"he should have left sooner"

What is the type of voice most commonly used?

Active voice  

Structure of active voice

subject-verb-object

Emma wrote an essay

Passive voice

Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action.

"A copy of your personal data has been lost"

What type of voice does this sentence use?

Passive voice

What preposition do we add at the end of a passive voice (if we want to tell who is doing the action)?

'By'

Synthetic personalisation

In mass-produced text, where the producer pretends to have a personal relationship with the reader

'Dear Friend, I am writing to you today...'

Do we know who the 'actor' or 'author' of the action when using active voice?

Yes

Structure of passive voice

subject (receiving action) - finite form of to be -

past participle (3rd column) [- by - object/ person (doing the action) ] 

The essay was written by Emma

the study of how we produce particular sounds (eg "t" and "d" are stop consonants, produced by stopping the flow of air at the alveolar ridge, just behind the top teeth) 

Voiced pauses are words which are used by the speaker, instead of pauses. Example: "well" "like" The use of voiced pauses can show hesitation 

Grice

Maxim of Quantity

Where one tries to be as informative as one possibly can, and gives as much information as is needed.

Grice

 Maxim of Quality

Where one tries to be truthful, and does not give information that is false or that is not supported by evidence.

Grice

Maxim of Relation

Where one tries to be relevant, and says things that are useful to the discussion.

Grice

Maxim of Manner

When one tries to be as clear, as brief, and as orderly as one can.

Question

Who was the politness principle introduced by?

Geoffrey Leech

Leech

Tact Maxim

Minimizing cost to other and maximizing benefit to other.

Leech

Generosity Maxim

Minimizing benefit to self and maximizing cost to self.

Leech

Approbation Maxim

Minimizing dispraise of other and maximizing praise of other.

Leech

Modesty Maxim

Minimize praise of self and maximize dispraise of self.

Leech

Agreement Maxim

Maximize agreement between self and other people and minimize disagreement between self and other.

Leech

Sympathy Maxim

Minimize antipathy between self and other and maximize sympathy between self and other.

The history of the word, including the langauge it came from, if appropriate, and when it began to be used regulary.

Example: "Salary" came from the Latin word for salt

Words that often appear in every day speech.

Words that appear more raley, such as specialist terms from a field e.g medicine.

Examples: Curriculum, boulevard meaning "broad main street", Plebeian meaning commoner in ancient Rome

Words derived from French or Latin, or both, are more rarely used; often seen as having higher status and or being more specialist.

Examples: Cuisine, acquaintance etc

A pattern of words with similar meanings found across a text or texts.

Examples (bolt, trap, cage) (Spirit, concentrated, power)

Describing a word with more than one meaning.

Example: "Point" "The pencil has a sharp point." / "It is not polite to point at people."

A word that has similar meaning to another word.

Example; "malady" and "illness"

A word formed from two other words.

Example: Dustbin, Airplane, Bodyguard

The associated meanings we havce with ceratian words, depending on the person reading or hearing the word, and on the context in which the word appears.

Example; Wicked is "bad moral character" in the dictionary but other interpreations it has different meaning altoghether such as "excellent, splendid, remarkable"