# 15. Linguistic manipulation ## 15.5. Methodology/Refinements/Sub-species ### 15.5.4. Syntactic manipulation #### 15.5.4.3. Modality This refers to different ways of referring to a person, event or situation and how it is judged to be true or desirable. > It uses modal auxiliary verbs (like "can", "could", "may", "might", "must", "ought", "shall", "should" etc.) to convey opinions and speculation rather than facts. > For example "The theatre was 50% full for the play" or "The play might have barely half-filled the theatre". The first statement is factual, the second conveys an opinion.