The Messages We Send to Children in the Words We Say- Part 2: Verbal Modifiers
Many statements have two levels of meaning. One level is the basic information that we communicate with the specific words we say. The second level conveys our attitudes and feelings; most specifically, revealing what we think and how we feel about the words we are saying. This deeper level of communication is known in linguistic literature as the metamessages level . Simply put, a metamessage is the in-depth message that can be implied from the surface message. One of the ways in which we can create a metamessage is by including a verbal modifier in the sentence. As defined by McKay, Davis, and Fanning (2009), verbal modifiers are special words that add nuances of meaning to the sentence. Some words and phrases commonly used to modify verbs are: Ø Words : certainly, only, merely, naturally, now, later, sure, just, still, again, slightly, lately, seriously, and supposedly. Ø P hrases : of course, come on, I’m sure, and I guess. Some examples of metamessages developed throu...