Date: Tue, 17 Oct 1995 04:20:50 -0400

From: Bob Haas rahaas[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HAMLET.UNCG.EDU

Subject: Re: might could



On Tue, 17 Oct 1995, Aaron Drews wrote:



Well, I know Scots and non-standard Scottish dialects of English

use double modals. And there were one or two Lowlanders that settled in

the southern States. My guess is that it got started back when could was

a full lexical verb.... 17th century, maybe, I don't know. My HEL is a

wee bit rusty.



Aaron,



Thanks for the info, I always wondered what constructions like "might

could" were called. I reckon I might should'a looked it up.



Bob Haas

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

rahaas[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hamlet.uncg.edu