Interpretation of modal verbs
She should/must/may/ought to/would know what we are talking about.
Q1) Can all the modal verbs describe the certainty that she knows what we are talking about?
Q2) Can the sentence imply either future or present? Like "The sentence describes the certainty that she will know what we are talking about"(future) and "She knows what we are talking about (present)
Top answer
fire1 Q1) Can all the modal verbs describe the certainty that she knows what we are talking about? I assume you mean the modal verbs that you listed in your sentence, and not really ALL the modal verbs. The answer is more or less yes.
- fire1 Q1) Can all the modal verbs describe the certainty that she knows what we are talking about?
- I assume you mean the modal verbs that you listed in your sentence, and not really ALL the modal verbs.
- The answer is more or less yes.
- The focus is not always on certainty itself.
- fire1 She should/must/may/ought to/would know what we are talking about.
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fire1Q1) Can all the modal verbs describe the certainty that she knows what we are talking about?
I assume you mean the modal verbs that you listed in your sentence, and not really ALL the modal verbs.
The answer is more or less yes. The focus is not always on certainty itself.
fire1She should/must/may/ought to/would know
0fire1Can the sentence imply either future or present?
They are all evaluations in present time of the proposition "She knows what we are talking about".
The only possible exception is "would", which seems to suggest that we could ask her if we wanted to find out for sure if she knows what we're talking about. That means taking future action. On the
0
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