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What is modal about I thought that…?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2005

RENAAT DECLERCK  and
SUSAN REED
RENAAT DECLERCK
Affiliation:
University of Leuven, Campus Kortrijk, E. Sabbelaan 53, B-8500 Kortrijk, Belgiumrenaat.declerck@kulak.ac.besusan.reed@kulak.ac.be
SUSAN REED
Affiliation:
University of Leuven, Campus Kortrijk, E. Sabbelaan 53, B-8500 Kortrijk, Belgiumrenaat.declerck@kulak.ac.besusan.reed@kulak.ac.be
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Abstract

Some nonmodal tense forms (e.g. thought) can trigger one or two kinds of modal interpretation, viz. suspended factuality (implicating present counterfactuality) of the complement clause (I thought you weren't married) or discourse tentativeness (I thought you might lend me your camera). The authors explain how this nonmodal use of the past tense – the thinking is represented as a past fact – can lead to one of these modal interpretations of the complement clause. In doing so they discuss various observations in connection with these and other I thought that…constructions and similar uses of other past-tense and past-perfect forms.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , November 2005 , pp. 311 - 332
Copyright
Cambridge University Press 2005

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Footnotes

We wish to thank the anonymous referees of ELL for their useful comments on the first draft of this article.