"double modal" meaning in All languages combined

See double modal on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: double modals [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} double modal (plural double modals)
  1. (grammar) A sequence of two modal verbs, such as "might could", an impossible construction in standard English, but one used in some dialects, especially Southern US English. Wikipedia link: double modal Synonyms: stacked modal Related terms: modal stacking

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "double modals",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "double modal (plural double modals)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Grammar",
          "orig": "en:Grammar",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              23,
              36
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2019, Irina S. Lebedeva, Svetlana N. Orlova, “Semantics and pragmatics of the double modal ‘might could’”, in Training, Language and Culture, volume 3, number 2, →DOI:",
          "text": "The first instances of double modals date back to the seventeenth century.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A sequence of two modal verbs, such as \"might could\", an impossible construction in standard English, but one used in some dialects, especially Southern US English."
      ],
      "id": "en-double_modal-en-noun-pmsiHqFg",
      "links": [
        [
          "grammar",
          "grammar"
        ],
        [
          "two",
          "two"
        ],
        [
          "modal",
          "modal"
        ],
        [
          "verb",
          "verb"
        ],
        [
          "might could",
          "might could"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(grammar) A sequence of two modal verbs, such as \"might could\", an impossible construction in standard English, but one used in some dialects, especially Southern US English."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "modal stacking"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "stacked modal"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "grammar",
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "double modal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "double modal"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "double modals",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "double modal (plural double modals)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "modal stacking"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "en:Grammar"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              23,
              36
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2019, Irina S. Lebedeva, Svetlana N. Orlova, “Semantics and pragmatics of the double modal ‘might could’”, in Training, Language and Culture, volume 3, number 2, →DOI:",
          "text": "The first instances of double modals date back to the seventeenth century.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A sequence of two modal verbs, such as \"might could\", an impossible construction in standard English, but one used in some dialects, especially Southern US English."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "grammar",
          "grammar"
        ],
        [
          "two",
          "two"
        ],
        [
          "modal",
          "modal"
        ],
        [
          "verb",
          "verb"
        ],
        [
          "might could",
          "might could"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(grammar) A sequence of two modal verbs, such as \"might could\", an impossible construction in standard English, but one used in some dialects, especially Southern US English."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "grammar",
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "double modal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "stacked modal"
    }
  ],
  "word": "double modal"
}

Download raw JSONL data for double modal meaning in All languages combined (1.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-05-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-01 using wiktextract (142890b and 1d3fdbf). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.