Hello Prof. Aarts, I hope you're well. I think it's cool that you co-wrote the Dictionary of English Grammar and also have this blog. I'm studying for a teaching exam, and I came across modality and mood in the dictionary. I couldn't figure out how they relate to each other, so I googled "what is the difference between modality and mood," and this article came up. The time and tense analogy was helpful for me. I currently think of them as the same thing: modality refers to the meaning of possibility, necessity, permission, obligation, etc., while mood is the way that modality is grammatically expressed and categorized. However, I'm not sure my understanding is correct.
I'm wondering whether this sentence expresses modality: "The sun rises at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning." If there is modality here, what kind? Epistemic?
"I currently think of them as the same thing: modality refers to the meaning of possibility, necessity, permission, obligation, etc., while mood is the way that modality is grammatically expressed and categorized. However, I'm not sure my understanding is correct."
Yes, that makes sense.
"I'm wondering whether this sentence expresses modality: "The sun rises at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning." If there is modality here, what kind? Epistemic?"
Strictly speaking this sentence is ‘unmodalised’, as it contains an indicative verb form. However, as the sentence is about the future, which is by definition unsure, and not actualised, we could say that the meaning of this sentence is modal (often called ‘root modality’), but the grammar does not express this modality.
Hello Prof. Aarts, I hope you're well. I think it's cool that you co-wrote the Dictionary of English Grammar and also have this blog. I'm studying for a teaching exam, and I came across modality and mood in the dictionary. I couldn't figure out how they relate to each other, so I googled "what is the difference between modality and mood," and this article came up. The time and tense analogy was helpful for me. I currently think of them as the same thing: modality refers to the meaning of possibility, necessity, permission, obligation, etc., while mood is the way that modality is grammatically expressed and categorized. However, I'm not sure my understanding is correct.
I'm wondering whether this sentence expresses modality: "The sun rises at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning." If there is modality here, what kind? Epistemic?
Best wishes
You write:
"I currently think of them as the same thing: modality refers to the meaning of possibility, necessity, permission, obligation, etc., while mood is the way that modality is grammatically expressed and categorized. However, I'm not sure my understanding is correct."
Yes, that makes sense.
"I'm wondering whether this sentence expresses modality: "The sun rises at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning." If there is modality here, what kind? Epistemic?"
Strictly speaking this sentence is ‘unmodalised’, as it contains an indicative verb form. However, as the sentence is about the future, which is by definition unsure, and not actualised, we could say that the meaning of this sentence is modal (often called ‘root modality’), but the grammar does not express this modality.