Modal words are words in a language that express

modality Modality may refer to: Humanities * Modality (theology), the organization and structure of the church, as distinct from sodality or parachurch organizations * Modality (music), in music, the subject concerning certain diatonic scales * Modalit ...

, i.e., possibility, necessity, or contingency. One kind of modal word is the

modal verb A modal verb is a type of verb that contextually indicates a modality such as a ''likelihood'', ''ability'', ''permission'', ''request'', ''capacity'', ''suggestion'', ''order'', ''obligation'', ''necessity'', ''possibility'' or ''advice''. Modal v ...

(''should'', ''can'', ''might'', and ''ought'', as well as ''oblige'', ''need'', and ''require''). Other types of modal words in English include modal adjectives (''likely'', ''probable'', ''necessary''), modal adverbs (''probably'', ''perhaps'', ''certainly''), modal prepositions (''despite'', ''unless'', ''if''), and modal nouns (''possibility'', ''probability'', ''certainty'').

References

Linguistics Semantics Words {{authority control, qid=Q123236362