The article deals with the features of functioning of the main explicators of the modal meaning of need (adverbs “надо”, “нужно”, predicative adverb “должен / должна”) in the statements of men and women as presented in journalistic texts. The comparative frequency of the use of the specified explicators in speech of men and women is under consideration in the article, the reasons for their difference regarding the purpose of the verbal communication and gender factors are found out.

There are represented the results of the research directed to find out the gender peculiarities of distribution and functioning of modal particles in expressions of men and women based on newspaper texts.

During the past decades gender researches have been carried out at all language levels, taking into consideration all the linguistic phenomena. The research of the category of modality has been limited by modal verbs study. The functional and semantic approach to the study of the modal etiquette phrases as one of the expressive means of modality allows explaining the social regularities and gender peculiarities of communicative behavior.