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2) various degrees of probability: maybe, perhaps, possibly,
probably, etc.;
different shades of desirability (undesirability): happily, luckily,
fortunately, unhappily, etc.
Functioning as a parenthetical element of a sentence, modal
word is usually connected with the sentence as a whole, e.g.;
Apparently, they were fully prepared for the coming of visitors.
But sometimes it may be connected with a part of a
sentence only, e.g.:
We worked that land for maybe a hundred year.
In Ukrainian modal words are not viewed as a separate
part of speech by some linguists. For example, in the book
"Modern Ukrainian language", edited by O. D. Ponomariv modal
words are considered not as a phenomenon of morphology but a
phenomenon of syntax. Thus, O. D. Ponomariv distinguishes
parenthetic constructions (вставні конструкції) which are
subdivided into three kinds: parenthetic words, word
combinations and sentences. According to O. D. Ponomariv the
role of parenthetic words is often performed by modal words
(мабуть, певно, безперечно, безсумнівно, etc.). The majority of
them correlate with adverbs (звичайно, нарешті, власне,
імовірно, взагалі, навпаки, etc.). Very often the role of
parenthetic words is performed by adverbs (по-моєму, по-перше,
зрештою, наприклад, без сумніву, etc.)
What is in common concerning English and Ukrainian
modal words is the fact that the majority of modal words have
developed from the adverbs of manner and have retained their
formal characteristics — in English the suffix -ly, in Ukrainian —
the ending -o. Some of them have been formed by the way of
lexicalization of word combinations, for example: of course,
indeed; на щастя, на нещастя, без сумніву and others.
Among the modal words in Ukrainian there are words of
verbal origin: здається, кажуть, може and others. In English

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