Re: Weekly Vocab 6: to know

Andreas Johansson scripsit:

> * What in the ergativity is the infinitive of "can"? "To can" appears to mean
> something else ... The English modals appear not to deign to have any
> infinitives.
Correct.  The English modals are radically defective: the old present vs.
preterite relationship has been mostly discarded in favor of a realis/irrealis
one (although the rules for sequence of tenses still show the old system:
"He says that he will go" vs. "He said that he would go").  In general,
there are paraphrases for all of them except "dare", which serves as both
modal and non-modal.

        can             be able to
        must            have to, need to
        may             it is possible that ...

etc. etc.

--
BALIN FUNDINUL          UZBAD KHAZADDUMU        jcowan@reutershealth.com
BALIN SON OF FUNDIN     LORD OF KHAZAD-DUM      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan