Modal Verbs "Neng" And "Can" Comparative Study Between Chinese And English

The article based on Mood and Modality Theory, making full use of the existing achievements, analyses two modal words:Chinese "neng" and "can" in English, which are commonly used. We here analyses the semantic and syntactic features of "neng"; What else, we compared the two modal words "neng" in Chinese and "can" in English, then we can find the differences between them. First, we sum up the research of auxiliary words briefly,for instance, the definition and scope of auxiliary in Chinese, What else, we also give the representative research point of views of the English modal words and western mood.In the use of English and Chinese corpus respectively to analyze the modal words "neng" and "can", the article further studies the differences of modal means between them. Then we can find the differences of modal means between Chinese and English. According to analyse the study of auxiliary in Chinese simply, we found that the description of single auxiliary in Chinese is relatively weak, while the description of English modal words based on modality theory has got a large effectiveness, it may provide a basis to this article, so we join the situation of Chinese and English, compare and analyze the "neng" and "can". We conclude that the modal words "neng" in Chinese and "can" have similarities and differences. The similarities are as follows:1."neng" and "can" are indicate epistemic, deontic and dynamic modality.2.both of them have similar characters in those three modalities mentioned above. Both "neng" and "can" are indicate objective possibilities when express epistemic modality;When express dynamic modality,"neng" and "can" are indicate the subjective ability do or not do; When express deontic modality,"neng" and "can" mean reasonable or environment permission, mostly used in negative and interrogative sentences. The differences are:1.when "neng" and "can" indicate "capability", usually "can" not only means certain basic ability, but also means the special ability of "be expert in", for instance "neng chi"、"neng he"、"neng shui"and so on. When "neng" express this meaning, its front can be modified by the degree words, such as "neng","zui", but in English "can" doesn’t have got the meaning. Generally in English, it may be used "be good at" to express this "ability". What else, when "can" express dynamic modality, it not only means the subject’s own ability, but also indicate some ability that obtained by learning skills and knowledge. While in this situation, Chinese use "hui" to indicate this, for example:He can drive a car. In Chinese, it must be say "ta hui kai che"(in Chinese), not "neng";2.as far as epistemic is concerned,"neng" is determined by the agent’s inherent character or condition, while "can" is resolved by the subject condition. For instance,"zhe tian leng de dong si ren"(in Chinese) and "It has been boiled, and can be eaten". What’s more, when "neng" indicates the epistemic meaning, the subject can be animate and inanimate, but the subject of "can" usually is inanimate; What else, when "can" indicates the epistemic, it can be used in passive sentence, which is different from "neng";3. when "neng" and "can" express deontic,"neng" used in negative and interrogative sentence most while "can" emerged in negative sentence most, but sometimes appeared in affirmative sentence, which is different from "neng"...