The Effect of Negators, Modals, and Degree Adverbson Sentiment Composition
Table 4: The impact of modals on sentiment.
['[BOLD] Modifier', '[BOLD] Avg. diff.', '[BOLD] # pairs', '[BOLD] # score ↑', '[BOLD] # score ↓']
The most influential modal modifier is would have been. It consistently downshifts sentiment by a significant margin (about 0.5 points). Modifiers involving modals could, and might also affect sentiment in a consistent and noticeable way for both positive and negative words. Modals can and would form modifiers that have the smallest effect on sentiment of positive and negative words (with the exception of the modifier would have been).