This research focuses on studying the use of modal
verbs expressing supposition in British and American
English.
The material for the research has been taken from
the two most popular databases:
1)The British National Corpus (BNC)
(http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/) that is a 100
million word collection of samples of written and
spoken language from a wide range of sources,
designed to represent a wide cross-section of
British English, both spoken and written, from
the late 20th century.
2)The Corpus of Contemporary American English
(COCA) (corpus.byu.edu/coca/) that contains 450
million words of American English, 1990-2012.
The following words expressing supposition have
been selected for the analysis: apparently, likely, maybe,
perhaps, possibly, probably.
According to the data obtained from the Corpus of
Contemporary American English these words can be put in
the following order in accordance of their frequency in
American English:
Maybe 125055
Probably 113087
Perhaps 97279
Likely 86694
Apparently 30025
Possibly 23993
According to the data obtained from the British
National Corpus these words can be put in the following
order in accordance of their frequency in British
English:
Perhaps 33521
Probably 26552
Likely 22991
Maybe 10080
Apparently 7582
Possibly 7038
It can be seen that the most frequent modal word in
British English is “perhaps” while in American English
the most frequent one is “maybe”. The model word
“probably” is the second frequent modal word in both
variants of the English language. The least frequent
modal words in both variants are “apparently” and
“possibly”. Thus this surface analysis provides some
data of the differences and similarities of the modal
words usage in British and American English.
The next stage is determining the percentage of
these words frequency in both variants.
Then the analysis of the usage of these words in
British and American English is to be conducted,
including their places in phrases and syntactic
functions in sentences. The stylistic differences
(according to the genres of the texts the modal words
are used in) will be also discussed.
The next part of the study is based on the analysis
of the modal words usage in the texts of the present-
day British and American mass-media. As the sources of
the examples the quality newspapers have been selected:
the popular British newspaper “The Guardian” and the
popular American newspaper “The Washington Post”. By
means of searching their official websites the number
of modal words’ usage has been determined. The results
of the search are presented in Table 1.
Table 1
Modal wordBritish English American English
Number % Number %apparently 1,170,000 10% 47,504 6%likely 2,210,000 19% 397,048 49%maybe 2,050,000 18% 61,783 8%perhaps 2,400,000 21% 71,351 9%possibly 1,150,000 10% 129,205 16%probably 2,600,000 22% 94,410 12%Total 11,580,000 100% 801,301 100%
These results are presented in pie-charts (Fig.1
and Fig. 2)
It can be seen that there is some discrepancy
between the data obtained by the word corpuses and
analysis of these words’ usage in mass-media texts. An
attempt to explain this discrepancy will be made below.
Figure 1
Figure 2
PERHAPS
The Guardian About 2,400,000 results
12 May 2015 ... Totally irrelevant perambulations
involving, perhaps, Nana Mouskouri.
21 May 2015 “It's incredible for people who can't
conceive naturally, but perhaps it's also ...
Playwriting, like science perhaps, is more about
love than money.
23 Apr 2015 ... Germany is becoming relaxed about a
Grexit –perhaps too relaxed.
5 Nov 2014 ... Perhaps most notable is the talent
and verve of many of the people at the heart of it all:
Leese, Forbes, Anderson, Oldham's Jim McMahon
24 Apr 2015 ... Will a night in Kurt Cobain's
apartment offer fans religious rapture? Perhaps so.
21 Apr 2015 ... Craft breweries: clean water's
newest (and perhaps unlikeliest) champion.
24 April 2015 At Chatham House, I thought perhaps
Labour got the ‘right’ Miliband after all
26 May 2013 ... After the McAlpine libel
case, maybe we need a time control on damages. Peter
Preston. Perhaps it's time to impose a rule that the
more quickly ...
The Kremlin's leader, perhaps, is caught between
them. (The Guardian, 11.03 2006.)
Perhaps Mr O'Neill has been reading Pravda, because
making extraordinary tax demands on oil companies is
all the rage in Russia, where President Putin has in
effect forced Yukos into bankruptcy by accusing the
company of not paying enough tax. (The Daily Telegraph,
04.02.2005)
Ms Khakamada is part Japanese and well placed to
judge these two halves. The Kremlin's leader, perhaps,
is caught between them. (The Guardian, March 11, 2006)
Perhaps Mr O'Neill has been reading Pravda, because
making extraordinary tax demands on oil companies is
all the rage in Russia, where President Putin has in
effect forced Yukos into bankruptcy by accusing the
company of not paying enough tax. (Daily Telegraph,
04/02/2005)
The Washington Post
Showing all results (71351)
26 May 2015 Hillary Clinton also supported the war,
Kristol maintains that she would merely be another in a
boomer trend that needs to end. Perhaps. Or is there
something else? Is it the Clinton in Hillary he doesn’t
like? Kristol led the charge to defeat her efforts to
reform health care as first lady. Or is it the woman in
Clinton he finds so offensive? Perhaps he prefers women
in flirty skirts and high heels to sturdy women in
pantsuits?
22 May 2015 In fairness, perhaps the process is as
it should be. Perhaps the TPP should not be subject to
a filibuster — after all, many Dems want filibuster
reform. Perhaps it should be easier for Congress to
pass the deal than to revisit it — after all, that
might be necessary to make it possible to negotiate it
with other countries in the first place.
20 May 2015 Digging deeper into the numbers, the
source of Atlanta’s malaise is unclear. Using
“expected” effective field goal percentage (XeFG%), the
Hawks have gotten comparable and perhaps even slightly
better shots in the postseason as in the regular
season.
12 May 2015 Perhaps the prosecutors didn’t argue
it, which would be a prosecutorial mistake.
Perhaps Judge Jackson was misled by United States v.
Hassanshahi, 2014 WL 6735479 (D.D.C. 2014) (Contreras,
J.), which applied Cotterman and also appeared to focus
on whether the defendant was engaged in a crime.
The Moscow underworld is a snake-pit of greed and
corruption, tolerated -- or perhaps encouraged -- by
Mr. Lushzkov and immune to prosecution. Doug Steele, a
Canadian entrepreneur who owns a Moscow nightclub,
recently estimated he paid $1 million in bribes to
police, officials and the Russian mafia. At least he's
still alive. (The Washington Times, March 3, 2006.)
Barring an overnight breakthrough, negotiators will
have to return to the table after the summit, hoping
perhaps to find a compromise in time for Bush's next
planned meeting with Putin in Moscow in May. (The
Washington Post February 24, 2005)
MAYBE
The Guardian
About 2,050,000 results
April 24 2015 Maybe in the end Labour got the
“right” Miliband after all.
12 Sep 2014 ... Scottish independence: yes, no, or
maybe? | Politics | The Guardian
26 May 2013 ... After the McAlpine libel
case, maybe we need a time control on damages. Peter
Preston.
17 May 2015 Bernie Sanders: 'Maybe I shouldn't say
this: I like Hillary Clinton' | US ...
10 Mar 2015 ... Maybe his plan is just so high-brow
that we mere minions do not understand it?
14 Apr 2014 Will doing a master's get you a better
job? Well, maybe ...
3 May 2015 ... Something that delicious is probably
best described in cliches, so, here goes – it's like a
party in your mouth. Or maybe a flavour explosion.
The Washington Post
Showing all results (61783)
26 May 2015 Or maybe, "Religion declines as
powerful source of American public authority."
5 May 2015 Maybe the Supreme Court will stay out
this case because of the good-faith issue flagged in
Footnote 20
12 May 2015 Maybe border searches require
a Riley moment in some way. Maybe a new test is needed by
which the government’s search in this case was
unconstitutional.
12 May 2015 Maybe the forensic team didn’t execute
the warrant because there was a big backlog of other
more pressing cases. Maybe the case agent’s boss
intervened and told him to stop spending so much time
on that one case after he had already spent several
days searching the DVD of copied files. Maybe the
prosecutor expected the case to plead out based on the
evidence they found the first time. Who knows.
22 May 2015 Perhaps if global warming persists at
the pace the president desires, maybe it could actually
improve America’s strategic positioning. Maybe global
warming will work to America’s advantage since Obama
cannot. Maybe global warming will cause the islands
China is creating to flood. Maybe warm weather will
strain the air conditioners in the North Korean
laboratories where scientists are miniaturizing nuclear
weapons. Maybe another Russian sinkhole will open up
and swallow Vladimir Putin, making it impossible for
him to continue to humiliate the president. Maybe a
drought will somehow inhibit the Islamic State and keep
it from murdering the few allies we still have in the
Middle East.
POSSIBLY
The Guardian
About 1,150,000 results
6 Apr 2015 ... NCAA final preview: how can Duke
possibly beat Kentu...
9 Mar 2015 ... Philadelphia left-hander awaiting
second opinion on ailing elbow says surgery could
possibly end career.
30 Apr 2015 ... Mexican candidates release
excruciating and possibly illegal campaign videos. '
15 May 2014 ... Take the former and you hit first
London's West End, then Broadway, and possibly even
Hollywood and the movies. 9 Oct 2014 ... If you opt for
a baguette, then a Vietnamese banh mi-inspired sandwich
of cold ( possibly leftover?) roasted meat
29 May 2014 ... Malawian president Joyce Banda
faces electoral humiliation – and possibly jail.
The Washington Post
Showing all results (129205)
15 May 2015
A handful of Miami Beach police officers sent
hundreds of racially offensive and pornographic emails
and possibly jeopardized dozens of criminal cases in
which they are witnesses, the department's chief said
Thursday.
PROBABLY
The Guardian
About 2,600,000 results
24 April 2015
Miliband’s foreign policy address will probably not
change either the dominance of the domestic agenda in
the election campaign or the terms of the foreign
policy debate, such as it exists in the UK at present.
5 May 2015 10 of the best festivals in Europe ...
that you've probably never heard ...
21 Apr 2015 ... Cities use glyphosate to control
weeds in parks and along verges. Now that the WHO says
the pesticide is 'probably carcinogenic to humans',
22 May 2015 ... Two children were probably killed
by a US-led coalition air strike in Syria, the Pentagon
said on Wednesday.
6 May 2015 ... Deflategate: Patriots probably
deflated footballs, NFL finds.
26 Jan 2015 ... Lance Armstrong said: 'If you take
me back to 1995, when doping was completely pervasive,
I would probably do it again.'
3 May 2015 ... Something that delicious is probably
best described in cliches, so, here goes – it's like a
party in your mouth. Or maybe a flavour explosion.
10 Apr 2015 ... Certainly if Bielsa didn't exist it
would probably be necessary to invent him.
There will probably be an election in May. (The
Daily Telegraph, 04.02.2005)
The Washington Post
Showing all results (94410) 2,600,000 94410
May 27 2015 Think that fawn is abandoned? Mom is
probably nearby
May 5 2015 The modern Supreme Court’s strongest
pronouncement on this is probably Arizona v. Hicks, in
which an officer was inside an apartment and picked up
a turntable to see its serial number.
12 May 2015 “This is far from over,” said Snyder.
“This is probably just round one in what could be a two
or three-round fight.”
12 May 2015 But we’ll probably hear more about this
case either way, so here’s a detailed rundown of the
new decision together with my thoughts.
This Kafka-esque drama will be played out in Moscow
during the next few weeks and in the end, we will
probably never know who shot former Forbes journalist
Paul Klebnikov to death on a summer evening in 2004 in
Russia's capital because that's how the city works.
(The Washington Times, 03.03. 2006.)
Investigators told the court that the Mercedes's
speed was at least 93 mph; defense lawyers said it was
probably closer to 125 mph. (The Washington Post,
February 13, 2006.)
Several audience members indicated that they
thought Ryan's plan made sense, although he
acknowledged that his idea of paying for it largely by
cutting government spending is probably not realistic
and probably would need to be accompanied by changes in
benefits. (The Washington Post, February 22, 2005)
APPARENTLY
The Guardian
About 1,170,000 results
2 May 2015
Cry fowl! Why the apparently humble chicken has
plenty to crow about
8 Apr 2015 ... A Texas deputy shown in a video
apparently striking a pregnant woman ... One of the
older children apparently told a teacher, who reported
the ...
13 May 2015 ... New York City police shoot man
apparently wielding hammer.
26 Dec 2014 ... Michael Brown memorial destroyed
after apparently being run over.
13 May 2014 ... All we have is silent video footage
apparently from a security camera at the Standard Hotel
in New York.
16 Apr 2014 ... Forget career advisors - apparently
it's TV shows that influence your choice of job .
The Washington Post
Showing all results (47504)
May 27 2015 Delaware wildlife officials are warning
residents against moving apparently abandoned white-
tailed deer fawns.
26 May 2015 “What apparently happened is the Iraqi
forces just showed no will to fight,” Carter said
Sunday on CNN.
May 24 2015 Kim Jong Chul is apparently such a big
fan, he saw the performer two nights in a row.
12 May 2015 Kraft’s legalistic defense echoed
previous attacks of Ted Wells’s report for its lack of
direct evidence, and the criticism apparently stung the
author.
12 May 2015 Kim apparently made his reservations a
few days in advance, not at last moment.
Under that approach, agents can seize and search
computers at the border (or at its “functional
equivalent,” such as at international airports where
passengers are boarding international flights)
apparently without limit.
But apparently the salt frenzy has gone far beyond
those circles. (The Washington Post, 09.03.2006.)
In addition, Chechen groups were reported to have
been seen "at several major railroad stations in the
Moscow region, apparently interested in a special train
used for transporting nuclear 'bombs.' " (The
Washington Post, February 24, 2005; Page A01)
As convincing as Cole's testimony was to O'Grady,
the judge said he was disturbed that a high-ranking FBI
official apparently disagreed -- even after Cole had
interviewed Abu Ali. (The Washington Post, March 2,
2005; Page A01 )
LIKELY
The Guardian
About 2,210,000 results
7 Sep 2014 ... Researchers found that when more
information on the Scottish independence referendum was
provided, participants were more likely to vote ...
26 Jan 2015 ... The scale of Lib Dem losses would
most likely prompt Clegg to resign ... All this would
make a fresh deal with the Tories more likely.
19 May 2015 ... Children who are bullied at school
are more likely to grow up to be obese and at greater
risk of suffering a heart attack in later life
22 May 2013 ... Researchers say women are more
likely to have depression and anxiety, while more men
report substance abuse.
21 Jan 2015 ... Given the unequal burden of
distress implied by these figures, it is hardly
surprising that women are more likely to experience
suicidal thoughts.
But while Mr Bush remains on course to effect a
rapprochement with the heads of the European Union and
Nato, the bonhomie is likely to be in short supply by
the time he concludes his tour by meeting the Russian
president. (The Daily Telegraph, 20.02.2005).
The powerful Kremlin chief of staff Alexander
Voloshin kept his job and Boris Berezovsky, the
influential business magnate with extensive control
over media outlets, is likely to remain an important
figure in a Putin administration. (March 3, 2006 The
Guardian )
Applicants are likely to face new verbal reasoning
and aptitude tests similar to those taken by pupils
wanting to study medicine and law so as to eliminate
the "tail" of under-performing students and ensure that
only the brightest are admitted. (Daily Telegraph
25/01/2005)
The ban will take several years to come into force.
Legislation is not planned for the Queen's Speech,
which opens the new session of Parliament next Tuesday.
Instead, the ban is likely to form a central plank of
Labour's manifesto for a general election planned for
May 5 next year. (Daily Telegraph 25/01/2005)
The Washington Post
Showing all results (397048)
15 May 2015 A tough case for a public official such
as the associate dean to win, because she has to show
that Erdely and Rolling Stone actually knew that their
statements were likely false.
In between are hybrid proposals that include modest
private accounts to satisfy conservatives but maintain
a basic Social Security benefit, tilted to help the
poor and most vulnerable, to appeal to liberals. It is
in this pragmatic center that a bipartisan solution is
likely to be found, said Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr. (R-
Fla.), a former chairman of the House Ways and Means
Committee's Social Security subcommittee. (The
Washington Post, February 24, 2005)
The large death toll in the bombing, one of the
deadliest since the insurgency began, is likely to test
the restraint of the country's majority Shiite Muslim
population in the face of attacks by insurgents who are
predominantly Sunni Muslim. Shiites for the most part
have refused to be drawn into a sectarian conflict as
their religious leaders have counseled patience. (The
Washington Post March 2, 2005)
