Abstract: The author, based on media texts, examines the verbs of thinking, think, decide and their derivatives. The subject of the study is the meaning of situational modality - the meaning of desirability, possibilities realized by verbs of thinking. The purpose of the work is to reveal the specifics of the modal functioning of the verbs thinking, think, decide and their derivatives. Achieving this goal is facilitated by solving the following tasks: 1) identify modal meanings realized by the verbs think and decide and their derivatives; 2) determine the conditions for the modal functioning of the above verbs. The goals and objectives of this work determined the choice of a comprehensive research methodology, including the following methods: functional-semantic, contextual, descriptive. As a result of the study, it was found that the verbs of thinking and decide and their derivatives are capable of realizing the modal meaning of desirability (variant meaning of intention), possibility, and in some cases the complex meaning of “desirability + possibility”. The scientific novelty of the article is determined by the material and subject of the study. The analysis of media texts made it possible to: 1) establish the lexical and grammatical basis of the modal functioning of verbs of thinking, the semantics of which implicitly contains a modal component; 2) determine the syntactic conditions for the implementation of the meanings of situational modality, which consist in the presence of a dependent (subjective) infinitive with the verb; 3) to conclude that the most frequent modal modifier in media discourse is the verb to decide and its derivatives. Observations and conclusions obtained as a result of the study stimulate further study of the specifics and conditions of the modal functioning of verbs of thinking in different spheres of social life.