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''Dit kan wees dat 'n vleiery boemerang"
(it canbe that a flattery boomerangs)
Van Schoor (1982) says that epistemic modal auxiliary verbs can be further
paraphrased by what he calls higherepistemic predicates like "moontlik /waarskynlik"
(possible/probable):
Dit is moontlik dat 'n vleiery boemerang.
(It is possible that a flattery boomerangs)
THE USES OF EPISTEMIC MODAL AUXILIARY VERBS
According to Van Schoor (1982:250) epistemic modal auxiliary verbs In
Afrikaans are generally used in deduction or concluding as in:
Rulle moet seker trots ·wees op Hannes, want hy presteer besonder mooi.
(They must surely be proud ofRannes because he achieves particularly well)
Dit sal sy kantoor wees, want ek hoor sy stem.
(That will be his office because I hear his voice)
Van Schoor points out that pretrial assimilation, that is the change from moet to
moes, is not necessarily the norm.
Hy kan gekom het
(He could have come)
and
Hy kon gekom het.
(He could have come)
can be used without a change ofmeaning.
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