MDCO Modal COULD

MFTE MDCO Bohmann 17 child of POMD_ALL

Definition

The modal verb “could”.

Parent

POMD_ALL

Detection Rules

mfte

cql[lemma={words} & pos="MD"]

Word: could

Requires: lemma, pos

pybiber

cql[lemma={words} & pos="MD"]

Word: could

Requires: lemma, pos

cql[word="could" & pos="MD"]

Requires: word, pos

Normalization

Per finite_verbs

Examples

Do you think someone could have killed her?

Source: le_foll_2024

Well, that could be the problem.

Source: le_foll_2024

Could you do it by Friday?

Source: le_foll_2024

Sources

  • biber_1988 — Biber, Douglas (1988) : Variation across Speech and Writing
  • mfte — Le Foll, Elen & Shakir, Muhammad (2023/2025) : Multi-Feature Tagger of English (MFTE) — Python version
  • bohmann_2019 — Bohmann, Axel (2019) : Variation in English Worldwide: Varieties and Genres in a Quantitative Perspective

Notes

Part of Biber’s grouped “possibility modals”.

View YAML source