• Level 2: ‘Objective modality’ distinctions express the speaker’s evaluation of the likelihood of occurrence (the “actuality”) of the SoA [state of affairs]. We can usually be rather certain of the actuality of that which we see happen before our very eyes. But we often talk about SoAs that do not have this “prima facie” tangibility. In such cases, objective modality distinctions allow us to express what we think of the chances of occurrence of the SoA in terms of what we know about SoAs in general.
- Dik (1989), a pag.205