1275 Epistemic Parentheticals
5.1 Introduction
Among the best- studied comment clauses in Present- day English are paren-
theticals containing fi rst- person subjects and verbs expressing supposition,
inference, expectation, or belief – what I will call know - verbs – gener-
ally in the simple present tense, verbs which in other contexts require that -
complementation (see, e.g., Thompson and Mulac 1991 ; Stenström 1995 ;
Aijmer 1997 ; Simon- Vandenbergen 2000 ; Kärkkäinen 2003 , 2007 ; Wierzbicka
2006 ; Boye and Harder 2007 ; Kaltenböck 2007 , 2010 , 2013 ; Van Bogaert
2006 , 2010 ). The most common forms are exemplifi ed in (1):
(1) a. I would remember, I think , the asphalt embroidering my heels (2015 Crucet,
Make your home among strangers [COCA])
b. That’s why they have the boats, I guess. (2015 Kenyon Review [COCA])
c. That was the last dreg of youth, I suppose , that hopefulness. (2015 Paris
Review [COCA])
d. I believe , as the project lead, that’s your job (2010 Sargeant, Heated rivalry
[COCA])
e. The lawyers cut her a check, a big one, I imagine , and that was it (2013
Crawford, Spirit lake [COCA])
f. There have been other attacks, as well, I understand. (2009 Analog Science
Fiction & Fact [COCA])
g. The episode, it seems to me , is a sign of Berlin’s doom (2005 Southwest
Review [COCA])
These so- called “parenthetical verbs” have been variously described and
designated since they were fi rst identifi ed by Urmson ( 1952 ).^1 He observes
that, when used in the fi rst person, present tense, verbs such as know , believe ,
guess , suppose , suspect , estimate , and feel “indicate the evidential situation
in which the statement is made” (485) and “function as signals guiding the
hearer to a proper appreciation of the statement in its context, social, logical,
or evidential” (495). They “signal what degree of reliability is claimed for,
1 See Brinton ( 2008 : 219– 224) for further discussion of this topic.