Delimitation: mod vs. mai

type=mod type=mai

D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e D e s c r i p t i o n E x a m p l e

Modal auxiliaries used like a main verb Er hat das nicht gekonnt/mod   Main verb in similar meaning Er hat es nicht zustandegebracht/mai  

Sie durfte/mod   nie. Sie erlaubte/mai   sich das nie

It is not quite clear if there is gapping involved in the constructions with the potential modal auxiliaries, that is if there is the ``real'' main verb missing. In our tagset, these cases are always tagged as mod, in a lexically-based way.