The paper is devoted to the study of stable word-combinations with a verbal component, which are seen in the context as the expressive means of subjective modality. German online texts on political, social and sports topics were analyzed in this research. In this paper the functional approach is applied to the study of the above-mentioned linguistic phenomenon. It was proved that stable word-combinations with a verbal component indicate features of phraseological unities and phraseological combinations and are quite common in German publicistic texts. The word-combinations are identified differently: the expression of subjective modality as subjective modality has different markers, splitting into deontic (markers: necessary, possibly, accidently), epistemic (markers: proved, disproved, not resolved), aletic (markers: obligatory, prohibited, allowed), axiological (markers: good, bad, neutral). In the texts under consideration, stable word-combinations with a verbal component can be seen as lexical-syntactic units that enhance the expression of axiological modality as all analyzed examples have good, bad, and neutral markers in the context. Stable word-combinations with a verbal component are linguistic expressions of the force of figurative thinking (German Bildkraft), which has two components: visibility (German Bildhaftigkeit) and imagery / colourfulness (German Bildlichkeit). Visibility, to which stable word-combinations with a verbal component apply, is related to the direct meaning of all semantically relevant words and collocations. Therefore, the wider the semantic space of such words and collocations is, the higher degree of visibility and depth of meaning of such lexical and lexical-stylistic units can be observed, because each individual meaning element defines our understanding of the topic that is described, makes this description more detailed and complements our imagination. Stable word-combinations with a verbal component constitute a complementary element expressing subjective modality that reinforces the influence on the addressee. As the means of expressing subjective modality, these lexical-syntactic units can only be considered together with other lexical units in a context.
Inside History: Seeking Figurative Thinking
