Definition and Examples of Marginal Modals in English

In English grammar, a marginal modal is a verb (such as dare, need, used to, ought to) that displays some but not all of the properties of an auxiliary. The marginal modals all have meanings that are related to necessity and advice.  A marginal modal can be used as either an auxiliary or a main verb. Examples I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us.(Franz Kafka, letter to Oscar Pollack, January 27, 1904)I used to live in a room full of mirrors.All I could see was me.(Jimi Hendrix, Room Full Of Mirrors)For Children: You will need to know the difference between Friday and a fried egg. Its quite a simple difference, but an important one. Friday comes at the end of the week, whereas a fried egg comes out of a chicken.(Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time. Crown, 2002) Characteristics of Marginal Modals Neither the marginal modal nor any of the modal idioms form past or present participles (thus *I have oughted to work hard, *I am oughting to work hard). And although very few semi-auxiliaries participate in compound tenses, a few function adequately as perfects (I have been able/going to/obliged/willing to work hard, I have been about to work hard on several occasions, I have had to work hard) and only two are unquestionably acceptable as progressives (I am being obliged to work hard, I am having to work hard). As a general rule, semi-auxiliaries are reluctant to enter compound tenses.(Richard V. Teschner and Eston E. Evans, Analyzing the Grammar of English, 3rd ed. Georgetown University  Press, 2007) Dare and Need As Marginal Modals ​​As modal verbs, dare and need take a bare infinitive complement in negated and/or inverted structures. They do not have third person singular forms.(128) Or darent you ask?(129) You neednt read every chapter.(130) And dare I suggest that that is the match-winner?(131) Nor need I look further than my own city of Sheffield.As a marginal modal verb need has no past tense: we cannot say, for example *He needed read every chapter. It expresses necessity which is clearly a central modal meaning. Dare is not obviously modal from the point of view of meaning, though it is forward-looking, and is sometimes regarded as instantiating dynamic modality, due to the fact that the act of daring relates to the subject of the clause.(Bas Aarts, Oxford Modern English Grammar. Oxford University Press, 2011)The verb dare . . . is an odd little word. . . . Sometimes its called a marginal modal, but I prefer the description quasi modal. Either label, dare hovers between being an ordinary ga rden-variety verb meaning to challenge and one of these more abstract and grammatically complex verbs conveying a judgment about likelihood--and its this double life that gives rise to some fairly eccentric behaviour. Consider how it forms a negative. Do you say I darent (pronounced darent or dairnt), I dare not, or I dont care? T.S. Eliot might have chosen to phrase the question in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock as Do I dare to eat a peach? but some of you might prefer Dare I eat a peach? The word order is different, and its also variable whether or not you follow dare with to.Colloquial English is full of these quasi modals. The verb need is one, and so are contracted expressions such as gonna, wanna and halfta. But one of my current favourites is better as in I better do it.(Kate Burridge, Weeds in the Garden of Words: Further Observations on the Tangled History of the English Language. Cambridge University  Press, 2005) Used to As a Marginal Modal Used to occurs only in the past tense form, and always includes to. We do not say * I use to go or * I used go. In the negative form, some people prefer it as a main verb (but are often uncertain about the spelling): I didnt (use(d) to go. Others prefer it as an auxiliary verb: I usent/used not to go (especially in Britain).(David Crystal, Rediscover Grammar, 3rd ed. Longman, 2004)[T]here are a number of marginal auxiliaries (dare, need, ought to, used to) that share some of the characteristics of the auxiliaries and a larger group of semi-auxiliaries (auxiliary-like verbs) that convey similar notions of time, aspect, and modality (e.g.: be going to, have to, had better).(Sidney Greenbaum, Oxford English Grammar. Oxford University  Press, 1996) Also Known As: marginal auxiliary, marginal modal auxiliary, semi-modal, quasi-modal, semi-auxiliary

Textual Analysis Essay example - 2455 Words

Overview: The text, Writing on Demand: Best Practices and Strategies for Success is designed specifically for teachers by teachers. With a quote on the cover of the text that is highlighted by a bright orange background and explicitly states that this book is â€Å"Ideal for SAT, ACT, AP, and State Assessment Exams†, the text quickly announces that its core audience is going to be teachers within the middle school to high school range. Given the aim of this text, it proves to be a highly beneficial work for aiding teachers in understanding how to adequately prepare their students for the rigors of writing on demand, be it for regular classroom assignments or standardized tests. After a thorough analysis of the text I found many of†¦show more content†¦Context for Usage: The grade levels this text is designed to prepare educators for teaching is evidenced first in its overall discussion of properly preparing students to be able to write on demand for state assessment tests. Given that such tests do not regularly take place until students are out of elementary education it is apparent that this text is directed towards teachers working with a higher age bracket. This is also further revealed in instances where teachers are directed to help students think backwards, a skill that is not highly promoted in elementary education as most children at this age level have not yet developed the capacity to think backwards. The process described for enabling students to analyze prompts is also one that would be dominantly used beyond the beginning years of education. Considering each of these factors, the aim of this text is to be utilized by teachers working with a middle school to high school age bracket. Learning Objectives: Learning objectives promoted in the college level class on teaching writing that this text was handed out in, strongly emphasize the importance of group work, as revealed in the writing theory handout and the scholarly overview handout (see attached).Show MoreRelatedTextual Analysis1180 Words   |  5 PagesTowards a better and cleaner textile industry [Textual Analysis] Written Assignment 4 This assignment is through an analysis of appeal forms, speech acts, move structures, text functions, text types and relevant rhetorical strategies going to determine the genre and purpose of the text ‘Towards a better and cleaner textile industry’, which was posted on Novozymes website on March 30, 2011. Appeal Forms The text consists of a number of logical arguments that promote the use of enzymes inRead MoreTextual Rhetorical Analysis949 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿Textual Rhetorical Analysis John Fire Lame Deer was a Sioux Indian tribal leader, medicine man, rodeo clown, and storyteller amongst other things. A selection from his autobiography Seeker Of Visions: The Life Of A Sioux Medicine Man titled â€Å"Talking to the Owls and Butterflies† is a short piece regarding nature and man’s relationship with it. The piece was intended to make an impression on white people in order to help salvage what is remaining in the environment. Lame Deer reprimands the â€Å"whiteRead MoreTextual Analysis998 Words   |  4 PagesAnthony Just Who is Us and Who is Them? â€Å"It occurred to me that they needed a guide, someone who could accompany them through the course of an average day and point out all the things they were unable to understand. I could have done it on weekends but friendships would have taken away their mystery and interfered with the good feeling I got from pitying them. So I kept my distance.â€Å" In today’s society many times kids are influenced by the actions of their parents and other adult figuresRead MoreTextual Analysis : Rama Essay1565 Words   |  7 PagesTextual Analysis: Love in these texts is quite superficial, as the driving force behind these feelings of love is physical appearance. In each of the four stories, for example, the characters fall in love within seconds of simply seeing a person. They become instantaneously attached, and they start thinking about how to turn their feelings into marriage. In the Ramayana, Rama and Sita see each other in the same moment, Rama from the street and Sita from her balcony. Narayan describes a tension-filledRead MoreTextual Analysis : The Flies 1183 Words   |  5 PagesMilca C. Altamirano ENG 101 Jon LaGuardia 7 September 2016 Textual Analysis You awake with a breeze twirling with the fragments of hair left on your scalp; a dance known only to friends of the oncoming light. You open your eyes only to see the endless ocean in the sky. You do not see your family, nor your friends. You demand your legs and arms to function, they do not. You beg them to work the one time you need them to, and in defiance to the groan of your bones, you stand. You begin to wonderRead MoreKnocked Up Textual Analysis1885 Words   |  8 PagesAurora O’Bryan Prof. Kaufman 11/6/2007 Textual Analysis Knocked Up Intended for the enjoyment of the present-day youth generation, the 2007 comedy film Knocked Up deals with more than just comedic issues. Technically introduced as a romantic comedy, this film serves more to its comedic orientation. With awkward romance and stoner mannerisms, the laughs are plentiful for the intentional audience of Knocked Up. However, as the audience is served its fill of laughter, issues are presented that rarelyRead MoreExtant Textual Analysis Essay715 Words   |  3 Pagesas a time frame for the analysis. This time frame has varied in duration from 3.5 years (Livne, et al. 2011) to one week (Sang Bos 2012) before Election Day. Analysis Using both content and thematic analyses, all the tweets about these candidates posted from the date of the call for declaring candidacy until the day of the election were examined. Content analysis was used to describe the data numerically and to examine the reliability of the analysis; textual analysis was applied to determineRead MoreTextual Analysis: Accidental Billionaire898 Words   |  4 PagesFontaine Lkops February 13, 2011 Textual Analysis- Paper 2. An Emotional Creation According to Ben Mezrich, Mark Zuckerberg’s relationship to facebook changed his life with difficult emotional struggles throughout the process. In the book â€Å"The Accidental Billionaires: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal†, Mark Zuckerberg studied at Harvard University and went through many obstacles to reach his achievement of a social network that many people are aware of: ‘Facebook’. The key issue thatRead MoreTextual Analysis of the Perpetual Adolescent1970 Words   |  8 PagesTextual Analysis â€Å"The Perpetual Adolescent† is an observational piece by Joseph Epstein. He suggests that modern adult acts much more childish than the previous generations of middle aged people. A big part of acting like a younger person is dressing like a younger person. According to Epstein, the dressed down adult is the immature adult, which in turn leads to many adults trying to copy the modern and hip youth culture. This in turn created more relaxed environments across all career fieldsRead MoreTextual Analysis Essay on Fight Club1250 Words   |  5 PagesGina Ferrari Eric Netterlund Fall 2011 Textual Analysis Essay The classic 1996 film Fight Club is a social commentary about our generation, which is in many ways devoid of spirit and marked by consumerism. It is the story of a mans spiritual journey towards enlightenment in modern society and his attempt to find his place in the world. It stresses a post-modern consumer society, reveals the loss of masculine identity amongst gray-collar workers, and examines the social stratification marked

Metallica Essay Example For Students

Metallica Essay Category:BiographiesPaper Title:MetallicaText:So its Wednesday night. Im lying in bed, trying to decide what to writemy research paper on, but mostly focusing on the television. VH1s Behind theMusic is on. Tonight, the show spotlights my favorite band: Metallica. Suddenlyit hits me. I should do my paper on the most fascinating band in the world. Andso the story begins. Well start over in Copenhagen Denmark. A young boy named Lars Ulrich isgrowing up in a rich neighborhood. He plays tennis, and has hopes of one daybeing one of the worlds best (Tolinski, 46). But that dream comes to an abrupthalt when Lars gets his first drum set for his twelfth birthday (Tolinski, 46). This was also around the same time when heavy metal was beginning to catch on inEurope. The rise of this type of music is referred to as the new wave of BritishHeavy Metal (NWOBHM). Suddenly Lars life has a new focus. Forget abouttennis. Now this spoiled rich kid wants to be a drummer. In early 1979,Lars moved to Los Angeles California (VH1). He began to placeads in the cities local heavy metal magazine. For several months, he got noresponse. In fact no one else even placed ads looking for other people to starta band, except for one guy. Desperate to start his musical career, Lars decidedto call this other guy to see if he would like to jam sometime. Jamyz Hetfield was ecstatic to receive that phone call. He had grown uplistening to the NWOBHM, and had taught himself how to play the guitar. When thetwo met for the first time, an instant brotherhood was born. Not because theyliked each other, but because no one else was willing to give this new type ofmusic a chance. After a few jam sessions, Lars and Jamyz decided that they were ready to forma band. Lars knew a man named Brian Slagel that was putting together a metalcompilation album called Metal Massacre (Tolinski, 46). Brian assured Lars aspot on the record if he could throw together a band. With this in mind Lars andJamyz hit the Los Angeles club scene to try to discover possible band mates. They found a lead guitarist named Lloyd Grant, and a bassist named Ron McGovney. The foursome hit the studios and recorded one track: Hit The Lights (Tolinski,47). So now its 1981. The foundation for the greatest heavy metal band of alltime has been formed, but they had no name, until another metal head named RonQuintana came into the scene. He was developing a magazine dedicated to heavymetal music. The final nominees for the magazine title were Metallica and MetalMania. Lars assured Ron that Metal Mania was far catchier, and promptly stolethe other name for his band (VH1). It took a while, but Metal Massacre was finally released in the summer of1982 (Tolinski, 47). Needless to say, Metallicas debut didnt set the worldon fire. And to top it all off, the bands name was misspelled on the tracklisting. But nothing could stop these guys from reaching the top. They weredestined for stardom. In late 1982, Dave Mustaine replaced Lloyd Grant as lead guitarist (VH1). Theband went back into the studios to rerecord their only song, and the new versionwas released on all subsequent pressings of Metal Massacre. With a now moresolid line-up, Hit The Lights went on to be the most popular track on therecord (VH1). With the end of 1982 quickly approaching, the band decided to hit the studiosagain and record a seven-track demo album titled No Life Til Leather. InNovember of 1982 Metallica played their first show. It was a show dedicated tometal fans, and featured seven of the ten bands on the Metal Massacre album. .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd , .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd .postImageUrl , .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd , .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd:hover , .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd:visited , .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd:active { border:0!important; } .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd:active , .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ub551ad28100a1a75aa26967f139497cd:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Macbeth - Lady Macbeth- Character Changes Througho EssayMetallica quickly stole the show. In fact several of the other bands were booedoff the stage by angry fans who were there just to see Metallica (Tolinski, 47). So now things were going okay for the guys. They had a steady undergroundfollowing. But they werent making any money. They knew they needed to step uptheir music, but how? This question was answered when Jamyz attended a show in aLA bar. On stage was a man named Cliff Burton(VH1). Burton, a bass player, wasby far the most talented musician Hetfield had ever seen. He knew immediatelythat he must get him to join Metallica.