“M(-ed)+ -Ф”的运用

The Use of M(-ed) + -Ф

本文认为将might, could, should, would 不看作may, can, shall, will 的过去时态形式而当作独立于它们的词位的观点是错误的说情态助动词没有现在时态和过去时态即没有时态语法范畴的观点是错误的文章重申过去时态实质是距离性(易仲良 1987

This article discards the belief that modal auxiliaries have no grammatical category of tense, i.e. no present tense, nor past tense. It holds that it would be wrong to regard might, could, should and would not as the past tense forms of may, can, shall and will but as lexemes independent of them. The article reaffirms that the essence of the past tense is remoteness (YI Zhong-liang 1987): remoteness in time in the counter-clock direction, remoteness in reality or remoteness in psychology. It defines the three functions of the past tense of the primary modal auxiliaries which confirm to the essence of the past tense, and explains almost all the uses of the past tense of modals.