Chart of Modal Inflection

With each movement and directional vector (or sense) of each modal, we can start to map out the areas of modal expression. The chart (illustrated above) shows how each aspect is directed;a skill we certainly need to emulate, if we are to give the correct language signals.
As the chart shows , the high area is reserved for probability, the degree of which ranges from positive certainty through possibility to uncertainty at the back of the head. The forward area (ahead of the eye) carries the different notions of future modality, rising from the low downward driven decisive intention or acceptance (will) and determination (shall) through obligation(must), permission (may) and advice – or deferred obligation (should) to prediction (will) and desire (will, must, should). The past forms are set back or directed behind us, with past probability looped high in speculation but ending low - so as to combine with the auxiliary have and the past participle. The "conditional" forms of modals - despite having a somewhat thrown back start position- can, in fact, either advance(or move forward in directional terms) creating a conditional response to a hypothesis; however, when these modal auxiliaries are used to denote possibility – the "conditional" forms rise slightly to reflect conditional possibility. Having said that, when used to show a real past event from a point further back in time - in other words, the idea of the “future in the past” - this specific dynamic collocation tends to push forward more horizontally , showing us that something would later come to pass, historically speaking.

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