modals express

MollyB   Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:52 am GMT
Would you say that the basic group of modal auxiliaries (can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must):

are essentially grounded in the moment of speaking - based on an assessment "in the present circumstances".

and:

express the speaker's (and in questions, listener's) judgement about the non-factual, non-temporal elements in an action.
Guest   Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:43 pm GMT
How does the sentence:

"The center of the universe must be right here."

express the speaker's judgement about the non-factual, non-temporal elements in an action?

(Note: we assume the quoted sentence is always true, since everywhere is supposed to be the center of the universe.)
M56   Tue Nov 06, 2007 8:02 pm GMT
<(Note: we assume the quoted sentence is always true, since everywhere is supposed to be the center of the universe.) >

Then why do we also say "The center of the universe is right here."?