So I wanted to reply a text to Mi cariño just now. However, I got confused whether to use Can or Could. Thus googling is well due. And Oh-My-God. What an answer. Ready? Here goes. The underlying reason for the differing levels of politeness in modal use is how they developed historically. Hundreds of years ago, modal verbs had tense. There were present tense forms and there were past tense forms. Such is no longer the case. In modern English, modal verbs are tenseless. This allows them to operate in all time situations, past, present and future. This does not mean that each and every modal verb can do each and every modal function. They are still somewhat constrained by their historical roots and the meanings they hold today. Historical present tense form - Historical past tense form can - could will - would may - might shall - should In English, the past tense FORM of both lexical verbs [jump, run, write, etc] and the Historical past tense FORM of modal verbs are used to perform a number of different tasks: politeness/deference/doubt/non- real or counterfactual/... . I was wondering ... is more polite/deferentialsofter than Im wondering ... Did you want something to eat? is more polite/deferential/softer than Do you want something to eat? Its vitally important to remember that this use is only a use of the past tense FORM, it is NOT a true past tense, in the sense of time, use!! Another important thing to remember is that when it comes to the modals, it is the HISTORICAL past tense FORMS which are used, again, to effect a greater sense of politeness, deference/softness/... . Even the Historical present tense FORMS are polite but they are not as polite as the HISTORICAL past tense FORMS because they are part of this grammatical English uses past tense FORMS to effect greater politeness/etc routine. In your examples, there is no difference in meaning between can and could. In this sense both hold the meaning of Is it possible for you to change my email address? There is a difference in the level of politeness, which I hope I have explained satisfactorily. Are yall still with me? Thats a pretty long-ass answer, innit? At least Ive learned something.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 03:53:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015