Cover not available

Article published In: Register Studies
Vol. 2:1 (2020) ► pp.102–130

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Stance and modals of obligation and necessity in academic writing

 | Victoria University of Wellington
Published online: 10 April 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/rs.18012.par
Abstract
Variation has been demonstrated in modal use between written and spoken registers and between disciplines. This article investigates variation within a discipline by comparing modals of obligation and necessity used in three science genres. Obligation modals project strong authoritative stance, thus contrasting with the tendency in academic writing towards tentativeness. The modal auxiliaries must and should and quasi-modals have to and need to are investigated using student writing from the BAWE (British Academic Written English) corpus and a corpus of published research articles. Findings include a dearth of obligation modals in the empirical genres (research articles and laboratory reports). Also a greater prominence was found of dynamic modal meaning (where necessity arises from circumstances) rather than deontic meaning (where the necessity arises from human authority or rules). A further finding is the prominence of objective meaning in the science register compared with the International Corpus of English (Collins, P. (2009a). Modals and quasi-modals in English. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Stance in academic writing
    • 1.2Modal meaning
    • 1.3Subjective and objective modality
    • 1.4The source of the obligation
    • 1.5Stance and obligation modals
  • 2.Methods
    • 2.1Data analysis
  • 3.Quantitative results
    • 3.1Obligation modals in academic and research writing in science
    • 3.2Comparison of the use of obligation modals in science and their use in a general English corpus
  • 4.Qualitative results: Meanings expressed and functions performed by modals in the three genres
    • 4.1Must
    • 4.2Should
    • 4.3Have to
    • 4.4Need to
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (26)
References
Aull, L. L., & Lancaster, Z. (2014). Linguistic markers of stance in early and advanced academic writing: A corpus-based comparison. Written Communication, 31(2), 151–183. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biber, D., & Conrad, S. (2019). Register, genre, and style. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., Finegan, E., & Quirk, R. (1999). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Collins, P. (2009a). Modals and quasi-modals in English. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009b). Modals and quasi-modals in world Englishes. World Englishes, 28(3), 281–292. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Depraetere, I., & Verhulst, A. (2008). Source of modality: A reassessment. English Language & Linguistics, 12(1), 1–25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gardner, S., & Nesi, H. (2013). A classification of genre families in university student writing. Applied Linguistics, 34(1), 1–29. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gray, B., & Biber, D. (2012). Current conceptions of stance. In K. Hyland & C. S. Guinda (Eds.), Stance and voice in written academic genres (pp. 15–33). Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (1994). An introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed.). London: Arnold.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hood, S. (2004). Managing attitude in undergraduate academic writing: A focus on the introductions to research reports. In L. J. Ravelli & R. A. Ellis (Eds.), Analysing academic writing: Contextualised frameworks, (pp. 24–44). London: Continnum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huddleston, R., & Pullum, G. K. (2002). The Cambridge grammar of English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hyland, K. (2005). Stance and engagement: A model of interaction in academic discourse. Discourse Studies, 7(2), 173–192. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leech, G., Hundt, M., Mair, C., & Smith, N. (2009). Change in contemporary English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martin, J. R. (1984). Language, register and genre. In F. Christie (Ed.), Language studies: Children’s writing: Reader (p. 984). Geelong, Australia: Deakin University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Myers, G. (1989). The pragmatics of politeness in scientific articles. Applied Linguistics, 10(1), 1–35. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nesi, H., & Gardner, S. (2012). Genres across the disciplines: Student writing in higher education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Palmer, F. R. (1979). Modality and the English modals (1st ed.). London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rayson, P. (2016). Log-likelihood and effect size calculator. Retrieved from: <[URL]> (12 March 2018)
Scott, M. (1996). WordSmith Tools. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scimago Journal rank (2016). Retrieved from: <[URL]> (15 October 2017).
The ICE Project. (2009). The design of the ICE corpora. Retrieved from: <[URL]> (19 March 2019).
Verhulst, A., Depraetere, I., & Heyvaert, L. (2013). Source and strength of modality: An empirical study of root should, ought to and be supposed to in present-day British English. Journal of Pragmatics, 551, 210–225. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Verstraete, J-C. (2001). Subjective and objective modality: Interpersonal and ideational functions in the English modal auxiliary system. Journal of Pragmatics, 331, 1505–1528. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Ayoun, Dalila
2025. The Second Language Acquisition of English Tense, Aspect and Modality, DOI logo
Huang, Yueyue & Dechao Li
2023. Translatorial voice through modal stance: A corpus-based study of modality shifts in Chinese-to-English translation of research article abstracts. Lingua 295 ► pp. 103610 ff. DOI logo
Ostovar-Namaghi, Seyyed Ali, Fatemeh Khorram & Farhad Moezzipour
2022. Exploring the use of modality in EFL learners’ writing. English Text Construction 15:1 ► pp. 68 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue