Indicating obligation and willingness

ugs.gif (980 bytes) Using modal verbs to indicate willingness page 5 of 5

Indicating low willingness

With low willingness, the speaker or person referred to is willing to follow the course of action, but may have some reason for not particularly wanting to. This can be glossed as acceptance.

The only modals which are typically used to indicate acceptance are will and would:

I will do, if necessary. (Bank of English)

A few years ago, Xinhua [the New China News Agency] would only have dialogue with the UDHK provided some members were kicked out of the party.

Note that would as it is used in the above excerpt is not hypothetical; rather, it should be seen as functioning as the past tense of will. Compare:

Nowadays Xinhua [the New China News Agency] will only have dialogue with the UDHK provided some members are kicked out of the party.

In some cases, the presence of a modal adverb such as maybe would indicate that the speaker grudgingly accepts the future course of action:

But maybe I will now. (Bank of English)

For further information about using adverbials, see 04conten.gif (549 bytes) Indicating obligation and willingness: Using adverbials to indicate likelihood.

04conten.gif (549 bytes) Introduction
04conten.gif (549 bytes) Degrees of willingness
04conten.gif (549 bytes) Indicating strong willingness
04conten.gif (549 bytes) Indicating mid willingness
square.gif (58 bytes) Indicating low willingness

gend.gif (844 bytes)