情態早已遠遠超出了與命題真值以及可能性等有關的語義范疇而進入到語用范疇,它既是一個語義概念,也是一個語用概念。通過分析情態意義是如何借助情態助動詞來表達的,明確情態所具備的性質。當情態意義通過情態助動詞自身詞義從句子語義層面來表達,則為語義性質的情態;當情態意義依靠全句之上的語用推理獲得的語用意義來表達,則為語用性質的情態。道義情態具有這樣的雙重性質,其中道義指令是語義的,而道義承諾是語用的。雙重性質的呈現除了與道義情態義所帶有的行事特色有關之外,還與其實施的行事行為發生在現實世界與可能世界的區分有關。

Modality has already gone far beyond the semantic category related to the truth value and possibility of proposition, but has entered the pragmatic category. It is a both semantic and pragmatic concept. By analyzing how modal meaning is expressed by modal auxiliary verbs, the property of modality can be defined. When modal meaning is expressed from the semantic level of sentence through the lexical meaning of modal auxiliary verbs, it is the modality of semantic property; when the modal meaning is expressed by the pragmatic meaning derived from the pragmatic reasoning above the whole sentence, it is the modality of pragmatic property. Deontic modality has a dual property in which deontic "Directives" is semantic and deontic "Commissives" is pragmatic. The duality is not only related to the features of doing things of deontic modality, but also to the distinction between real world and possible world.