| Acknowledgement | 第1-4页 |
| Abstract | 第4-6页 |
| 摘要 | 第6-9页 |
| Lists of figures and tables | 第9-10页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第10-14页 |
| ·Research background | 第10-11页 |
| ·Objectives of the study | 第11-12页 |
| ·Research questions | 第12页 |
| ·Organization of the thesis | 第12-14页 |
| Chapter 2 Literature Review | 第14-24页 |
| ·Modality | 第14-16页 |
| ·Epistemic possibility | 第16-20页 |
| ·Definition of epistemic possibility | 第16-17页 |
| ·Realization of epistemic possibility | 第17-20页 |
| ·Previous studies on epistemic possibility | 第20-23页 |
| ·Summary | 第23-24页 |
| Chapter 3 Methodology | 第24-34页 |
| ·Analytical framework | 第24-26页 |
| ·Contrastive Interlanguage Analysis | 第24-25页 |
| ·Extended Unit of Meaning | 第25-26页 |
| ·Instruments | 第26-28页 |
| ·Corpora | 第26-27页 |
| ·Analytical tools | 第27-28页 |
| ·Selection of research objects | 第28-32页 |
| ·Procedures and steps | 第32-33页 |
| ·Summary | 第33-34页 |
| Chapter 4 Native Speakers? and Chinese Learners? Choice of Realizing Epistemic Possibility | 第34-45页 |
| ·Data Collection | 第34-35页 |
| ·Data Analysis | 第35-39页 |
| ·Data interpretation | 第39-44页 |
| ·Findings of comparison between oral English and written English | 第40页 |
| ·Findings of comparison between native speakers and Chinese learne | 第40-44页 |
| ·Summary | 第44-45页 |
| Chapter 5 Patterning Features of Epistemic Possibility Expressions | 第45-80页 |
| ·Patterning features of modal verbs | 第45-52页 |
| ·Patterning features of may | 第45-50页 |
| ·Patterning features of might | 第50-52页 |
| ·Patterning features of adverbs | 第52-66页 |
| ·Patterning features of possibly | 第52-56页 |
| ·Patterning features of probably | 第56-60页 |
| ·Patterning features of perhaps | 第60-63页 |
| ·Patterning features of maybe | 第63-66页 |
| ·Patterning features of formulaic sentence stems | 第66-78页 |
| ·Patterning features of It Be POSSIBLE | 第66-71页 |
| ·Patterning features of It SEEM | 第71-74页 |
| ·Patterning features of I Be afraid | 第74-77页 |
| ·Patterning features of NP + be likely to | 第77-78页 |
| ·Summary | 第78-80页 |
| Chapter 6 Conclusion | 第80-84页 |
| ·Major findings | 第80-82页 |
| ·Implications | 第82-83页 |
| ·Limitations | 第83-84页 |
| Bibliography | 第84-89页 |
| Appendix 1: Concordances of keneng(可能) | 第89-92页 |
| Appendix 2: Concordance of probably the most | 第92-94页 |
| Appendix 3: Concordance of It appear(*) to | 第94-97页 |
