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This paper argues that the Middle English modals have a shorter distance to diachronically reanalyze to T than traditionally assumed. The claim essentially draws on the analysis of two elliptical constructions in whose licensing the premodals are unexpectedly involved if one assumes the standard account of their full lexical status. Specifically, VP-ellipsis and directional PPs are investigated. The two phenomena have previously led to contradictory results regarding the status of the premodals. In the present account, an economy driven explanation is proposed, based on an intermediate projection which unifies the two phenomena and gives an account of the patterns of modal complementation.
