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Volume 25, Issue 3
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Abstract

Abstract

This study investigates the use and distribution of the synonymous adverbs and in order to determine their functional similarities and differences. After extracting usage data from the British National Corpus (BNC), this study explores the following factors by analyzing the target adverbs in a larger context: (i) the kind of register, (ii) the kind of NP chosen as the subject in clauses, (iii) the kind of modal verb used in the same clause, and (iv) the position occupied by the target adverbs in a clause. The corpus analysis demonstrates that is more prone to subjective use while is a more strongly grammaticalized item, and that the factors related to a highly subjective context contribute much to the variation between the adverbs. In addition, I suggest that both and (in combination with modal verbs or in final position) can be used in an intersubjective context.

© John Benjamins
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2018-11-02
2023-09-29

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Variation between modal adverbs in British English
Functions of Language 25, 392 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.16009.suz
/content/journals/10.1075/fol.16009.suz
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