TENSE, ASPECT, AND MODALITY: THE TEMPORAL DIMENSIONS OF ENGLISH MODAL VERBS
TENSE, ASPECT, AND MODALITY: THE TEMPORAL DIMENSIONS OF ENGLISH MODAL VERBS

Summary/Abstract: The present paper explores the interaction between modal verbs and the grammatical categories of time, tense, and aspect in English. Modal verbs do not inflect for tense in the conventional sense; however, they usually encode temporal meanings such as futurity (will), habituality (would), and counterfactuality (might have), often in combination with perfective and progressive constructions. The study distinguishes between epistemic and deontic modality and examines how they constrain or align with specific tense-aspect configurations. Special emphasis is placed on the role of modals in expressing futurity, counter factuality, and habituality, as well as their compatibility with the perfective and progressive aspect. The analysis demonstrates that modals serve as essential elements in the interpretation of English clauses as they influence not only the temporal placement of events but also the modal meaning they convey.

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