Bob,

I've seen this argument before, and I fear it's the historical linguist
in me that makes me uncomfortable with it.  Historically, the reason why
modals don't take the present tense endings is that they belong to a
special class of Old English verbs called "preterit presents", verbs
that were preterit in form but had present meaning.  They did not
conjugate as present tense verbs then and haven't since.  I'm not sure
whether I want to make a theoretical argument out of a historical
accident.

Herb

Jed asks,

     My question is this: are modal verbs finite (carrying grammatical
tense) even though they are not inflected or marked in any way to show
that tense? Do syntacticians (sp?) consider the tense to be there
(perhaps marked with some kind of abstract zero morpheme) even though we
can't see it? 

****
I am one of those who consider modals having abstract tense.  The
argument is quite simple.

1a) Bob can drink beer.
  b) Bob is able to drink beer.

In most contexts, it seems to me that 1(a)  and (b)  have the same
meaning.

Notice what happens when we put want into those sentences.

2a) *Bob wants to can drink beer.
 b)   Bob wants to be able to drink beer.

Given the fact that 2(b) is grammatical, it is strange that 2(a) is
ungrammatical.  If we assume that "can" has tense, then the explanation
is clear.  In 2a, it is in non-tensed position, so a tensed form (even
if the tense is abstract), can not occur there. 

This provides a reason why modals don't have the agreement -s.  We
don't put two tense markers on a verb.

You can  make the same argument with must and have to.

3a) Bob must drink beer.
  b) Bob has to drink beer.
4a) *Bob wants to must to drink beer.
  b) Bob wants to have to drink beer.

********
A final point: The facts above reveal something interesting about the
nature of language.   There are abstract properties in language which
have nothing to do with meaning.  If form is ALWAYS related to meaning,
then it is decidedly strange that 2(a) is not possible given the fact
that 2(b) is possible or 4(a) is not possible given the fact that 4(b)
is possible.  

Bob Yates
Central Missouri State University 

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