Modal verbs with the meaning of reproach in contemporary English (on the material of N. Hornby’s novel "Hi-Fi")

Abstract

The category of modality is not typical for the Russian-speaking population. This causes difficulties in understanding and learning foreign languages, which have such grammatical category as modality. But when it comes to the English language, where this grammatical category is wide-spread in written and oral speech and has some specific features of its usage, one cannot avoid dealing with modal verbs and trying to understanf their meaning. This article describes modality as a peculiar grammatical category and dwells on the group of modal verbs with the meaning of reproach.