Negative politeness of British English: modality as a means of politeness and indirectness in business communication

Abstract

This bachelor paper is concerned with the use of modal auxiliary verbs to express negative politeness in British business communication. The main aim of this paper is to prove that modality and negative politeness are mutually connected. Another main objective is to identify which modal is used the most frequently to convey negative politeness. The practical part is focused on frequency analysis of selected modal verbs in samples of business communication. This paper should serve as contribution to one of the most difficult aspects of English grammar, that is, modality and modal auxiliaries. Also, it may serve as a resource of linguistic realizations of politeness in English to native speakers of other languages.