Why is "ought" a modal?

Question

/Be able to/ is similar to /can/. The reason it's not an auxiliary verb is that it uses a conjugation of /to be/ as the main verb. Likewise, /have to/ and /need to/ are similar to /must/, but they use /have/ and /need/ respectively as the main verbs.
I don't understand why /ought/ is (always) considered to be a modal auxiliary. In the phrase, "She ought to have done it," why isn't /ought/ considered to be the main verb? It seems to me that /ought to/ is to /should/ as /need to/ is to /must/.

Thank you for your time.

Mike Bandy

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]/Be able to/ is similar to /can/. The reason it's not an auxiliary verb is that it uses a conjugation ... /have to/ and /need to/ are similar to /must/, but they use /have/ and /need/ respectively as the main verbs.[/nq]
Agreed.
[nq:1]I don't understand why /ought/ is (always) considered to be a modal auxiliary.[/nq]
Is it?
[nq:1]In the phrase, "She ought to have done it," why isn't /ought/ considered to be the main verb?[/nq]
I don't know; I do consider it to be the main verb.
[nq:1]It seems to me that /ought to/ is to /should/ as /need to/ is to /must/.[/nq]
I agree. Grammatically, isn't the "to" actually a part of the infinitive of the following verb?
To me, "ought to" and "need to" are no different from "want to", "like to", "try/attempt/endeavour to", etc.
Cheers,
Tony

Tony Mountifield
Work: (Email Removed) - http://www.softins.co.uk Play: (Email Removed) - http://tony.mountifield.org

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]/Be able to/ is similar to /can/. The reason it's not an auxiliary verb is that it uses a conjugation ... be the main verb? It seems to me that /ought to/ is to /should/ as /need to/ is to /must/.[/nq]
I don't think that "ought to" is always considered to be a modal auxiliary. But at least in some ways it behaves like a modal, e.g. the past tense is "ought to have (done)", which is a structure similar to that used by modals in some senses.
also the negative of "ought to" is in many varieties English "oughtn't to" rather than than "didn't ought to" - although this seems to becoming more prevalent now. I've also heard questions of the form "Ought he come?", which is structurally similar to "Need he come?" and "need" is sometimes regarded as a semi-modal auxiliary since there are some usages that follow the modal pattern and not the that of normal verbs, e.g. questions and negatives formed without the auxiliary "do".

I hope that goes some way to clearing up your questions.

Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I hope that goes some way to clearing up your questions.[/nq]
Yes, I appreciate the time you've both given. Thank you.

Mike Bandy

Why is "ought" a modal?

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