<![CDATA[Communication happens not only in spoken form, but also in written form. Newspaper, as one form of written communication, provides ways for people to show their opinion, intention, and thought. In the way people communicate by using language,modals enable people to show something which is not simply positive or negative and each modal has some functions to show people’s thought, intentions, or opinion. This study dealt with how modals were used by the commentators in Text Your Say of The Jakarta Post. To solve the problem, the theories from Azar and Hagen (2009) and Leech and Svartvik (1994) were employed.The findings showed that there were 225 modals found in Text Your Say of The Jakarta Post issued in November 2012. They consisted of may, might, should, had better, be supposed to, must, have to, will, can, could, be able to, and would. They were used by the commentators to show some functions. The functions were to show 50% or less certainty, 90% certainty, 95% certainty, 100% certainty, ability/possibility, past ability, impossibility, necessity, strong necessity, advisability, suggestion, prohibition, expectation, unfulfilled wish/hypothesis, willingness, polite for “want”, and fulfilled future condition in the past. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.2013.160102]]>
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