main clause

We use main clause to refer either to a simple clause with no embedded clause(s) or to an embedding clause containing one or several embedded clauses. He said he’d do it immediately is a main clause which is also an embedding clause; he’d do it immediately is an embedded clause. I like you is an example of a (simple) main clause that does not contain an embedded clause. He said he’d do it immediately because he likes her is a main clause; it is an embedding clause which contains the embedded clause he’d do it immediately because he likes her. He’d do it immediately because he likes her is itself an embedding clause (but not a main clause) which contains the embedded clause because he likes her. (AEG Ch.1)

mandative subjunctive, see subjunctive

marginal modal

The verb need is a marginal modal; while it shares all of the formal characteristics of the central modal auxiliaries (namely, no inflection for person and number, no non-finite forms, direct not-negation, Subject-auxiliary inversion and ellipsis),it can only be used in non-assertive contexts. Ought to is also a marginal modal becuase, unlike the central modal auxiliaries, it is followed by to rather than a bare infinitive. (AEG Ch. 5)

mere possibility

We use the term mere possibility to refer to cases in which the modal auxiliary can or may express non-epistemic possibility meaning that is not ability and not permission. In cases like these, the speaker is saying that a situation is possible or that it is possible for the Subject referent to do something: Winters can be cold in Sweden; You can find a selection of sandwiches at the snack bar. (AEG Ch. 5)

middle voice

Verbs that are used in the middle voice combine features of transitivity and intransitivity: The door opened. From a formal perspective, the verb open is like an intransitive verb in that it does not take a complement; from a semantic perspective, it is like a transitive verb because the theme is expressed, though it is not in the form of a DO. (AEG Ch. 2)

modal, see modality

modal auxiliaries, see central modal auxiliaries

modal past

A modal past is a past tense that does not communicate its unmarked temporal information (that is, location of a situation in the past time-sphere). Instead, it represents a situation as non-factual (hence the term modal past), that is, hypothetical or counterfactual, the time reference being present or future: If I submitted an application by November, it would be assessed before the end of the year has hypothetical, future time reference (= I may or may not submit an application); If she had a job, she'd be busier has counterfactual, present time reference (= she doesn't have a job). (AEG Ch. 5)

modal past perfect

A modal past perfect is a past perfect that does not communicate its unmarked temporal information (that is, anteriority with respect to another situation in the past time-sphere). Instead, it represents a situation as non-factual (hence the term modal past perfect): If only she hadn’t insisted so much. Here, the past perfect refers to a past counterfactual situation (= but she did insist); it does not refer to a situation that is anterior to another past situation. (AEG Ch. 5)

modal sentence

We use modal sentence as a shortcut to refer to any sentence with a modal verb.

modality

Modality is a concept that refers to the meaning expressed by a large array of forms that do not represent situation as facts. In AEG the focus is on modal auxiliaries and modal lexical verbs, the modal past and the modal past perfect, and the subjunctive, but adverbs such as perhaps or maybe and adjectives (it is likely, it is impossible) can likewise represent situations as less than factual. The non-factual situations referred to by modal verbs are often tied with up the notions of possibility (You can leave (= it is possible for you to leave)) and necessity (You must leave (= it is necessary for you to leave)). Hypothetical and counterfactual situations also fall within the domain of modality. (AEG Ch. 5)

moment of speech (S)

The moment of speech (S) refers the speaker's 'now'; it is usually the time at which the speaker is communicating, but occasionally it is the time of perception by the hearer. For example, the speaker is obviously not at the library when she tapes the note 'I'm at the library' on her office door. Rather, she accommodates the heaer by adopting the hearer's 'now', which is yet to come. E stands for event time (in AEG we refer to an event as a situation). It refers to the time of the situation refered to in a clause. R (referenece time) refers to the point in time or the vantage point from which a situation is perceived. For instance, in the case of the present perfect, S and R coincide: the speaker looks at a situation located in the pre-present from the point of view of S. In the case of the past tense, the speaker looks at a situation located in the past time-sphere from a past vantage point (R), which lies in the past time-sphere. (AEG Ch. 4)

morphology

Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies the structure of words. More specifically, it recognizes units of meaning smaller than the level of the word – meaning conveyed by what we call, for example, the past tense marker /t/ – /d/ – /id/ or the plural marker /s/ – /z/ – /iz/. The subbranch of morphology dealing with the meaning of grammatical markers such as these is called inflectional morphology: inflectional morphemes are used to build different forms of one lexeme. The subbranch dealing with the meaning and properties of prefixes such as un- or suffixes such as -ness (un + happi + ness) is called derivational morphology: derivational morphemes are used to build new lexemes from existing ones. The mechanisms underlying the process of nominal compounding (building permit, school teacher) are also of interest to morphologists. (AEG Ch. 1)