MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀNG MY

A STUDY ON LINGUISTIC FEATURES
IN TED TALKS ON EDUCATION FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR

Field:

English Linguistics

Code: 8 22 02 01

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền

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BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG MY

ĐẶC ĐIỂM NGƠN NGỮ TRONG CÁC BÀI TED TALKS
VỀ GIÁO DỤC THEO QUAN ĐIỂM CỦA
NGỮ PHÁP CHỨC NĂNG

Chuyên ngành:

Ngôn ngữ Anh

Mã số: 8 22 02 01

Người hướng dẫn: PGS.TS. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền

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I

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I certify that this thesis with the title “A Study on Linguistic Features in
TED Talks on Education from the Perspective of Functional Grammar” is
entirely my own original work. In addition, I emphasize that this thesis has
not been submitted for any purposes in any materials. Any works of other
authors consulted in this thesis are listed in the reference.

Quy Nhon, 2019

NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀNG MY

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II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This master thesis would not have been accomplished in time without
the huge assistance of all individuals around me.

First and foremost, I own thanks to my wonderful supervisor, Assoc.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, who has devoted her time and effort to
guiding and giving invaluable counsel for me in spite of her huge workload.
Without her enthusiasm, encouragement and horizons, I cannot take shape my
master thesis.
Secondly, I am deeply grateful to all lecturers not only from Quy Nhon
University (QNU) but also from other universities for their whole-hearted
contribution to sharpening my academic knowledge during the previous
semesters.
Thirdly, I would like to sincerely thank for the cooperation and support
of the Department of Postgraduate Training and the Department of Foreign
Languages of QNU.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my mom who has never
ceased to support, motivate and assist me with tons of work at home so that I
can wholeheartedly concentrate on my thesis. My honest thanks will be sent
to my friends who are willing to stand by me when I need their assistance
during the period of carrying out this thesis.

Quy Nhon, 2019

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III

ABSTRACT
In recent decades, functional grammar has never ceased to draw
linguists’ attention. With the same concern, this study is carried out with an
aim to find out the linguistic features of TED Talks on education (TToE) in
the light of Systemic Functional Grammar. In particular, the study deals with

realizing

the

three

metafunctions

including

experiential

meaning,

interpersonal meaning and textual meaning. To conduct this study, the
combination of qualitative and quantitative approach is employed to serve the
process of finding the best results. In addition, twenty TED Talks on
education, each of which lasts less than 15 minutes, are carefully chosen from
the TED website to form the data set. The study denotes amazing results
concerning the three meanings found in TED Talks. In details, as for
experiential meaning, the tendency in the use of relational process and
material process is more favored than other processes by presenters in TToE.
In terms of the interpersonal meaning, declarative clauses presenting Mood
and modal verbs as a type of Modality are utilized with the higher rate than
the others. Regarding textual meaning, unmarked topical themes become the
dominant theme type among the others. Indeed, these results are expected to
significantly contribute to addressing the gap in previous studies related to
functional grammar and becoming a helpful material for teachers and learners
of English who are interested in studying with TED platform.


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IV

TABLE OF CONTENT
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ................................................................I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................... II
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................. III
TABLE OF CONTENT ................................................................................ IV
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................... VI
LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................... VII
LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................VIII
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1
1.1. Rationale..................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Aim and Objectives .................................................................................... 2
1.2.1. Aim of the Study ................................................................................. 2
1.2.2. Objectives of the Study ....................................................................... 2
1.3. Research Questions .................................................................................... 3
1.4. Scope of the Study ..................................................................................... 3
1.5. Significance of the Study ........................................................................... 3
1.6. Design of the Study .................................................................................... 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................... 5
2.1. Discourse and Discourse Analysis ............................................................. 5
2.1.1. Discourse ............................................................................................. 5
2.1.2. Discourse Analysis .............................................................................. 6
2.2. Systemic Functional Grammar................................................................... 7
2.2.1. Experiential Meaning .......................................................................... 8
2.2.2. Interpersonal Meaning ...................................................................... 13
2.2.3. Textual Meaning ............................................................................... 16

2.3. Previous Studies ....................................................................................... 17

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V

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ............................................................... 22
3.1. Research Methods .................................................................................... 22
3.2. Data Collection and Description .............................................................. 22
3.3. Data Analysis ........................................................................................... 23
3.4. Research Procedures ................................................................................ 24
3.5. Reliability and Validity of the Study ....................................................... 24
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ......................................... 26
4.1. Experiential meaning in TED talks on education .................................... 26
4.1.1. Process types ..................................................................................... 28
4.1.2. Circumstances ................................................................................... 39
4.2. Interpersonal meaning in TED talks on education ................................... 44
4.2.1. Mood system in TED talks on education .......................................... 44
4.2.2. Modality system in TED talks on education ..................................... 49
4.3. Textual meaning in TED talks on education............................................ 54
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS ......................... 61
5.1. Conclusions .............................................................................................. 61
5.2. Implications .............................................................................................. 62
5.3. Limitations and suggestions for further researches ................................. 63
REFERENCES .............................................................................................. 64
APPENDICES .................................................................................................. i
APPENDIX A. DATA: LIST OF 20 TED TALKS ....................................... i
APPENDIX B. SAMPLE ANALYSIS ......................................................... iv


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VI

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
SFG

Systemic Functional Grammar

TToE

TED Talks on Education

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VII

LIST OF TABLES

Table

Title

number

Page
number


2.1

Types of circumstances

13

2.2

Primary speech functions

14

2.3

System of types of modality

15

4.1

Occurrence of modal verbs in TToE

50

4.2

Occurrence of modal adjuncts in TToE

52


4.3

Occurrence of Theme types in TToE

55

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VIII

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

Title

number

Page
number

2.1

The relation of modality to polarity and mood

15

4.1


The frequency of process types in TToE

27

4.2

Occurrence of Circumstances in TToE

39

4.3

Mood types in TToE

45

4.4

The frequency of modality in TToE

49

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1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Language is always a topic of discussion all the time since it plays a role

as a magical tool that connects people together. Of all the trends that study the
nature of language, Systemic Functional Grammar, developed by renowned
linguists such as Halliday (1994), Bloor and Bloor (1995), Morley (2000),
etc., is considered as one of the most important fields. Functional grammar is
“the study of linguistic forms in relation to the meanings that they express.”
compared to semantics which just studies the meaning (Thompson, 1996, p.
29). In addition, functional grammar is likely to deal with both spoken and
written language and concentrates on the functions of language, which is quite
different from traditional grammar that just investigates the rules of correct
usage. There have been numerous studies about discourse analysis from the
perspective of functional grammar conducted by Montes, Barboza, and
Olascoaga (2014), Rong (2017), etc., but most of the data are collected in
written versions, making the oral forms of this aspect rarely investigated.
As Coulthard (1985) states, the serious study of spoken discourse is not
only currently undertaken by linguists but it is also carried out by sociologists,
anthropologists and philosophers. That means spoken discourse is an
interesting aspect concerned by many researchers. TED talks, delivered by
amazingly talented speakers and enthusiastically favoured by millions of
viewers in the world, are one kind of spoken discourse. Due to the great
contribution of TED in human’s knowledge and its great impacts, countless
papers are written about TED. Some tend to focus on the benefits or
applications of TED in teaching and learning English such as Rubenstein
(2012) and Wingrove (2017). Other articles or papers are about the linguistic

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features of TED talks. Carlo (2014), for instance, investigates on the

proximity in online popularization in the case of TED talks. Lopes, Trancoso,
and Abad (2011) do a research on the nativeness classifier for English with
the similar sources. Among diverse researches on linguistics features tested
with TED talks, there seems to be very few materials employing systemic
functional grammar to analyze the linguistic features in TED talks. Being
aware of the current issue, I am so motivated to conduct the thesis: “A Study
on Linguistic Features in TED Talks on Education from the Perspective
of Functional Grammar.”
1.2. Aim and Objectives
1.2.1. Aim of the Study
The main aim of the thesis is to investigate linguistic Experiential,
Interpersonal, and Textual features of educational TED talks from the
perspective of SFG. Findings of the thesis serve to capture an overall picture
of the ways presenters employed linguistic features in their persuasive talks.
In addition, the findings also assist learners of English and those who are keen
on TED talks to have an extra reference for enhancing their English skills by
applying the linguistic features that renowned speakers have used.
1.2.2. Objectives of the Study
To identify and analyze the experiential features utilized in TToE from
the perspective of SFG.
To identify and analyze the interpersonal features employed in TToE
from the perspective of SFG.
To identify and analyze the textual features used in TToE from the
perspective of SFG.

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1.3. Research Questions
These three questions will be resolved when the thesis is accomplished:
1. How are experiential meanings realized in TToE?
2. How are interpersonal meanings realized in TToE?
3. How are textual meanings realized in TToE?
1.4. Scope of the Study
Although I am aware of the different approaches in identifying the
linguistic features of discourse, I limited my study in the perspective of three
metafunctions. Furthermore, only 20 educational TED talks are selected for
the investigation since the thesis cannot be carried out in a large-scale
investigation of all TED talks.
1.5. Significance of the Study
Accomplishing this thesis offers significant benefits not only in theory
but also in practice. Theoretically, it may be a foundation for further
researches related to three metafunctions in the light of SFG. Practically, it
becomes a useful reference for those who have an interest in TED talks and
for learners of English who desire to sharpen their English skills via TED
talks.
1.6. Design of the Study
The study is structured as follows:
Chapter 1, Introduction, introduces the rationale, aims, research
questions, scope, methods and design of the study.
Chapter 2, Literature Review, provides the related theory about the
presentation skills in teaching and learning activities.
Chapter 3, Methodology, focuses on the research methods, the
procedures of the study, the research design, data collection and data analysis.

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4

Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, devotes to unveiling the results
from data analysis and discussing the results.
Chapter 5, Conclusion and Implications, embodies the summary of the
content of the investigation and gives the answer for the questions which are
put forward. Also, pedagogical recommendations for learners as well as
suggestions for further research are concretely displayed.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter serves to present the theoretical background on which the
study is based. It is designed to give a comprehensive overview of concepts
related to discourse, discourse analysis and systemic functional grammar. In
addition, a presentation on the theory of the three metafunctions including
experiential meaning, interpersonal meaning and textual meaning is provided
as the foundation for the thesis. Also in this chapter, some terms linking with
TED talks, which serve to be the data set for the study, will be discussed.
2.1. Discourse and Discourse Analysis
2.1.1. Discourse
Despite being one of the main concepts in language discussion in general
and in the language functions in particular, the term ‘discourse’ does not share
the same ideas among linguists. There have been a variety of definitions of
Discourse. Discourse is actually a broad term which not only appears in
linguistics but also in sociology, philosophy and other fields and it is the
study of the ways in which language is utilized among people both in written

and spoken texts.
Brown and Yule (1983) consider discourse as “language in use” and
Cook (1989) defines discourse as a stretch of “language perceived to be
meaningful, unified and purposive”. In the same trend, another definition of
discourse is perceived as “a continuous stretch of (especially spoken)
language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit, such as a
sermon, argument, joke or narrative.” (Crystal 1992: 25, cited in Nunan
(1993)).
Among the variety of concepts of discourse, it is not straightforward to
tell accurately what discourse truly is. In this study, discourse refers to a unit

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that is higher than sentence level, which encompasses the context, cohesion,
coherence and even rhetorical structure. In addition, it is expressed in the
spoken form.
2.1.2. Discourse Analysis
Discourse analysis is related to the study of the relationship between
language and the context in which it is used. It has been enhanced and
developed since 1960s and early 1970s with the works ranging from
linguistics, semiotics, psychology, anthropology and sociology. As Drid
(2010) mentions, discourse analysis deals with two divergent approaches to
language in general and to discourse in particular. They are the formal
approach and the functional approach. Schiffrin (1994) indicates that in the
first approach – formal or structural approach, discourse analysis is
considered as the exploration of language use by emphasizing on pieces larger
than sentences. It is a higher level in the hierarchy including morpheme,

clause and sentence. Discourse analysis is to describe the internal structural
relationship or the formal correctedness within it. The second approach is
functional in perspective. That means it rarely relates to the intra-sentential
relations as much as with language use. Actually, it refers to the analysis of
the language in use.
Discourse analysis provides us with diverse aspects of language in use
including written and spoken data of all kinds from different views of
linguists. As Coulthard (1985) mentions, “the serious study of spoken
discourse is only just beginning and currently much of the work is being
undertaken not by linguists but by sociologists, anthropologists and
philosophers.”

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According to Brown and Yule (1983), “the analysis of discourse is,
necessarily, the analysis of language in use.” or “the discourse analyst is
committed to an investigation of what that language is used for.” or
“Discourse Analysis is the study of language use with the reference to the
social and psychological factors that influence communication”. They
emphasize how human utilize language to communicate, and in particular,
how addressers construct linguistic messages for addresses and how addresses
work on linguistic messages in order to interpret them. Although there are
numerous concepts of discourse analysis, in this study it is considered as
analyzing the usage of language.
2.2. Systemic Functional Grammar
Adopting the huge contribution of Firth in his system-structure theory,
Halliday continued to evolve an accomplished language system called

Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) in the early 1960s.
Since the definition of Functional grammar varies among researchers, it
is vital to clarify what the term is. Functional grammar is defined by Halliday
(1994) as “the conceptual framework on which it is based is a functional one
rather than a formal one.” and it is designed to explain how the language is
utilized. He also states that it is functional in three distinct senses “in its
interpretation (1) of texts, (2) of the system, and (3) of the elements of
linguistic structures.”
Martin, Matthiessen, and Painter (1997) define that “Functional
grammar is a way of looking at grammar in terms of how grammar is used.”.
It is evident that traditional grammar mentions the rules for correcting
grammatical errors, whereas functional grammar offers tools to understand
why the text is the way it is. Defined as Feng (2013), functional grammar,

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which is based on systemic linguistics, put emphasis on how spoken and
written language operate in different social situations. In addition, he also
adds: “it is very useful in showing how texts work beyond the level of the
sentence, how different texts are structured, and how language varies to suit
the purpose of the users. It takes on a descriptive approach and focuses on
groups of words that function to make meanings.”
Three metafunctions of language identified by Halliday in SFG are
ideational function, interpersonal function and textual function. Based on
Halliday’s framework, Thompson (1996, p. 28) summarizes informally in
terms of this matter as follows:
• We use language to talk about our experience of the world, including

the worlds in our own minds, to describe events and states and the
entities involved in them.
• We also use language to interact with other people, to establish and
maintain relations with them, to influence their behaviour, to express
our own viewpoint on things in the world, and to elicit or change theirs.
• Finally, in using language, we organize our messages in ways that
indicate how they fit in with the other messages around them and with
the wider context in which we are talking or writing.
Experiential function uses language to talk about the world, interpersonal
function uses language to interact with other people, textual function
organizes language to fit in its context.
2.2.1. Experiential Meaning
Ideational metafunction has two modes, namely the experiential and the
logical. However, the focus of this study is just experiential meaning. As
Martin et al. (1997), the system of Transitivity belongs to the experiential

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metafunction within the clause. The experiential function allows people to
conceptualize the world. According to Halliday (1994, p.36), experiential
meaning in transitivity system described as a resource for “construing a
model of experience” includes three aspects: process, participants in the
process, and circumstances associated with the process. The major one is
process type, consisting of six subtypes. Material, mental and rational process
are three salient ones and the others are behavior, verbal and existential.
2.2.1.1. Material process
Material process can be considered as the process of doing and

happening. It expresses the notion that some entity ‘does’ something and may
be done ‘to’ some other entity (Halliday, 1994, p.103). Process itself
encompasses Actor (the doer of the action), Goal (the one that suffers or
undergoes the process or is affected by the action), Range (a participant
specifying the scope of a happening) and Beneficiary (the one that benefits
from the process).
The lion
Actor

caught
Process: material

the tourist
Goal
(Halliday, 1994, p.103)

Jack and Jill
Actor

went
Process: material

up the hill
Circumstance
(Halliday, 1994, p.106)

Besides Actor – initiating the process, Goal – affected by the action,
circumstance also helps to offer some supplementary information for the
process, including place, time, manner, cause, accompaniment, matter and
role.

“Range is the element that specifies the range or the scope of the
process.” (Halliday, 1994, p.134). In a material process, Range either

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expresses the domain over which the process takes place, or expresses the
process itself (either in general or in special terms). The Range may be an
entity which exists independently of the process but which indicates the
domain over which the process takes place.
The dormouse
Actor

crossed
Process: material

the court
Range
(Halliday, 1994, p.135)

Beneficiary is defined as “the one to whom or for whom the process is
said to take place.” In material process, the Beneficiary can be Recipient or
Client. The recipient is one that goods are given to; the Client is one that
services are done for. (Halliday, 1994, p.132)
I

Gave


my love

Actor

Process: material

Beneficiary: Recipient

a ring that has no
end
Goal
(Halliday, 1994, p.132)

2.2.1.2. Mental process
Language is not only an effective tool to describe the activities in our
daily life but it also serves to express the thinking or the feelings of human
beings. Mental process clauses get involved in the description of inner
experience related to perception, cognition, inclination or liking/disliking
(known as affect) (Butt, Fahey, Feez, Spinks, & Yallop, 2000). Two
participants in Mental process are Senser and Phenomenon. According to
Halliday (1994), the Senser is “the conscious being that is feeling, thinking or
seeing” and the Phenomenon is which is sensed (felt, thought or seen). This
following example will illustrate obviously positions of Senser and
Phenomenon.

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I
Senser

believe
Process: mental: cognition

you
Phenomenon
(Halliday, 1994, p.111)

Mental process clauses are realized in some verbs such as know, like,
hate, feel, want, wish, etc. Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) divides verbs
appearing in Mental process into four categories: perceptive (seeing,
perceiving, noticing, hearing, feeling, etc.), cognitive (thinking, believing,
supposing,

considering,

knowing,

understanding,

remembering,

etc.),

desiderative (wanting, wishing, hoping, planning, refusing, etc.) and emotive
(liking, loving, adoring, hating, fearing, enjoying, etc.)
2.2.1.3. Relational process
Relational process clauses “serve to characterize and to identify”

(Halliday, 2004). According to Butt et al. (2000, p. 51), Relational processes
“encode relationships of being and having between two participants”. The
Process is easily realized by the verb “be”. Since there are a number of distinct
ways of being, there are divergent types of relational process in the clause
including intensive, circumstantial and possessive. In addition, each type is
expressed in two modes: attributive and identifying. Regarding the attributive
mode, an Attributive is ascribed to some entity (carrier) whereas in terms of
the identifying mode, one entity (identifier) is used to identify another
(identified). Token and Value are conflated with Identified and Identifier “and
the conflation can go either way” (Halliday, 1994).
The cuckoo
Carrier

is
Process: relational: attributive

a bonny bird
Attribute
(Halliday, 1994, p.115)

King Louis
Identified/Token

was
Process: relational: identifying

the King of France
Identifier/Value
(Halliday, 1994, p.116)


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2.2.1.4. Behavioural process
The process showing behaviours related to physiological and
psychological behavior like breathing, dreaming, smiling, coughing, smiling,
laughing, watching, etc. belongs to behavioural process. In this process, there
is just one participant referred as the Behaver.
I
Behaver

sweep
Process

for you
Circumstance
(Halliday, 1994, p.129)

2.2.1.5. Verbal process
Verbal processes are considered as the processes of ‘saying’. There are
numerous kinds of this process including asking, commanding, offering,
stating, showing and indicating. In a verbal process, the Beneficiary is the one
who is being addressed. Expressing and indicating are modes of verbal
processes. Sayer (the one who does the verbalization) and Receiver (the one to
whom the verbalization is addressed) are typical participants. Verbiage and
Target are two other participants in this process.
I
Sayer


‘m always praising
Process: verbal

you
Target

to my friend
Recipient
(Halliday, 1994, p.130)

2.2.1.6. Existential process
Existential processes seem to be similar to Relational processes since
they all mention a Participant involving in a process of being. However, this
process just has one Participant - the Existent. Existential processes express
existing and happening and is frequently realized by the verb “be” or some
verbs like “exist”, “arise”, followed by a nominal group playing a role as
Existent.

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There

Is
Process

a man

Existent: entity

at the door
Circumstance
(Halliday, 1994, p.131)

2.2.1.7. Circumstances
Besides main participants in a process, circumstances also play a crucial
role in a process. It is evident to see that most circumstances appearing are
prepositional phrases. There are nine types of circumstances listed in the
following table.
Table 2.1. Types of circumstances (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004, p. 291)
No

Type of
circumstance

Typical
preposition

Transitive
function
Duration,
frequency
(temporal),
distance (spatial)
Time (temporal),
place (spatial)
Means, quality,
comparison,

degree

1

Extent

For, over, across,
etc.

2

Location

3

Manner

At, in, on, from,
etc.
With, by, like,
etc.

4

Cause

Through, for, etc.

5


Contingency

In case of, etc.

6

Accompaniment

7
8
9

Role
Matter
Angle

With, besides,
etc.
As, into, etc.
About, etc.
According to, to,
etc.

Reason, purpose,
behalf
Condition,
concession,
default
Comitation,
addition

Guise, product

Questions for
identifying the
circumstance
How long? How far?
How often?

When? Where?
How? What with? In
what way? Like
what? To what
extent?
Why? What for?
Who for?
Under what
conditions?

Who/what with?
Who/what else?
What as? What into?
What about?
Source, viewpoint Who says? Who
thinks?

2.2.2. Interpersonal Meaning
As Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) states, interpersonal meaning refers
to “enacting social relationships” (p.36) between speaker and addressee.
Halliday (1994) claims that language is utilized to express the interaction


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among people. It is the activity where there is an exchange of clauses between
the speaker and hearer. Halliday (1994) offers a table to describe four main
speech roles which can be presented in the table 2.2 as follows.
Table 2.2. Primary speech functions (Halliday, 1994, p.69)
Commodity exchange (a)
Goods-&-services
Role in exchange
(i)
giving
‘offer’
Would you like this teapot?
(ii)
demanding
‘command’
Give me that teapot!

(b)
Information
‘statement’
He’s giving her the teapot.
‘question’
What is he giving her?

As can be seen from Table 2.2, giving and demanding are two main
activities that four roles focus on. In addition, these roles simultaneously

involve in two general categories of commodity including goods-&-services
and information. When interaction is carried out, four speech roles are
expressed. They are giving goods and services, giving information,
demanding goods and services and demanding information. These functions
are labelled as offer, statement, command and question respectively. Offer
can be realized either by a declarative clause or an interrogative clause.
Statements are frequently expressed by declarative clauses, commands by
imperative clauses and questions by interrogative clauses.
In the role of an exchange and interactive means, an English clause
encompasses two constituents namely the Mood and the Residue (Halliday,
1994). The Mood is divided into two smaller components: the Subject and the
Finite. The Residue is the remainder of the clause and frequently plays a role
as Predicator, Component and Adjunct.
Interpersonal meaning is also represented by another element namely
Modality. In terms of Modality, as Halliday and Matthiessen (2014, p.75),
Modality is “the speaker’s judgment of probabilities, or the obligations

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involved in what he is saying”. In other word, Modality shows intermediate
degrees which fall between the positive and negative poles. Modality assists
the speaker to figure out the region of certainty that lies between “yes” and
“no”. There are two main types of Modality, namely Modalization and
Modulation that are illustrated as in the table as follows:
Table 2.3. System of types of modality (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004, p. 618)
Modalization


Modality type
Probability (‘may be’)
Usuality (‘sometimes)

Modulation

Obligation (‘is wanted to’)
Inclination (‘want to’)

Examples
There can’t be many candlestickmakers left.
It’ll change right there in front of
your eyes.
The roads should pay for
themselves, like the railways
Voter won’t pay taxes any more.

These four types vary between high, median and low values. Figure 2.1
shows that certainly, probably, possibly belong to probability. Always,
usually, sometimes are included in usuality whereas required, supposed,
allowed belong to obligation and determined, keen, willing are in inclination.

Figure 2.1. The relation of modality to polarity and mood
(Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004, p.619)

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