Category of Mood
The verb in the English language. Three moods in the Russian and English languages. The Indicative, Subjunctive, Imperative Mood as a grammatical form of the verb. Grammatical Mood in English. The main cases of the use of the Subjunctive Mood in English.
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Contens
- Introduction
- The verb in the English language
- Example
- 1. The Category of Mood
- 1.1 The Indicative Mood
- 1.2 The Subjunctive Mood
- 1.3 The Imperative Mood
- 2. Grammatical Mood in English
- 2.1 Moods of the Verb
- 2.2 The main cases of the use of The Subjunctive Mood in English
- Conclusion
- Literature
Introduction
The theme of my course paper sounds as following: "Category of Mood". Before beginning of investigation in our theme, I would like to say some words dealt with the theme of my course paper.
Mood is the grammatical category of the verb reflecting the relation of the action denoted by the verb to reality from the speakers point of view. In the sentences He listens attentively; Listen attentively; You would have listened attentively if you had been interested, we deal with the same action of listening, but in the first sentence the speaker presents the action as taking place in reality, whereas in the second sentence the speaker urges the listener to perform the action, and in the third sentence the speaker presents the action as imaginary. These different relations of the action to reality are expressed by different mood-forms of the verb: listens, listen, would have listened.
Standing on such ground, I would like to point out tasks and aims of my work
1. The first task of my work is to give definition to term "mood".
2. The second task is to give the classification of moods in English.
3. The last task of my work is to characterize each mood from grammatical point of view.
In our opinion the practical significance of our work is hard to be overvalued. This work reflects modern trends in linguistics and we hope it would serve as a good manual for those who wants to master modern English language. Also this work can be used by teachers of English language for teaching English grammar.
The present work might find a good way of implying in the following spheres:
1. In High Schools and scientific circles of linguistic kind it can be successfully used by teachers and philologists as modern material for writing research works dealing with English verbs.
2. It can be used by teachers of schools, lyceums and colleges by teachers of English as a practical manual for teaching English grammar.
3. It can be useful for everyone who wants to enlarge his/her knowledge in English.
After having proved the actuality of our work, I would like to describe the composition of it:
My work consists of four parts: introduction, the main part, conclusion and bibliography. Within the introduction part we gave the brief description of our course paper. The main part of the work includes several items. There we discussed such problems as the number of moods in English, their classification, and etc. In the conclusion to our work we tried to draw some results from the scientific investigations made within the present course paper. In bibliography part we mentioned some sources which were used while compiling the present work. It includes linguistic books and articles dealing with the theme, a number of used dictionaries and encyclopedias and also some internet sources.
In this article, I would like to tell you about the verb in the English language. They are very simple and incredibly useful for conversation. These rules help to communicate in English more freely and confidently.
The verb in the English language
Mood - a grammatical form of the verb, showing the attitude of the speaker to take action. Both the Russian and English languages, there are three moods: indicative, imperative and subjunctive.
Example
The Indicative Mood shows that the speaker considers the action as a real fact in the present, past or future
Not reads the newspaper in the evening.
I saw an interesting film yesterday.
She will come in the evening.
The Subjunctive Mood shows that the speaker considers the action ix not as fact but as expected or desired. In modern English there are very few specific forms of the subjunctive
Do not suggested that the discussion of the question be postponed.
If he were here, he would help us.
The Imperative Mood expresses the impulse to action, t. E. Orders, request advice and so on. D. The imperative is a form of 2nd person
Open the window.
Show me the letter, please.
Start the engine.
Do not open the window.
Verb let in conjunction with the 1st person singular refers to a request: Let me pass. Let (me) to pass.combined with the 1st person plural is a call for joint action: Let us (let's) sing. Let's sing. In conjunction with the 3rd person singular and plural forms expresses an order or permission:
Anyway, during a conversation does not have much to think about what you want to say. You must try to think in English and express their ideas peacefully without worrying about grammar and translation. There will be mistakes, and how without them? Everything will pass. Over time, will themselves be surprised how easily, almost automatically, you say the phrase you want to say. Mark my words
Conditional mood.
For the formation of the conditional mood in the Russian language we use particle - by. In this role the English word would. As in our language, the English conditional mood is used to express an action that would have taken place under certain conditions. The very condition may be announced or may be omitted.
I would go there, but I do not know where it is.
I would never say it to her.
I would read this book, but I can not find it.
We would go for a walk.
But for the rain we would play football.
If the action takes place in the past tense in the main clause is necessary to use the conditional mood and subjunctive in the subordinate. For example:
If I were you I would call her.
Fairly problems make perfect times. For example:
If you were more sensible, you would not have done it.
If I had gone to the party I would have missed the game.
Always this confused. But in a speech that is not often we use momentum. If you have just started learning, I advise you to remember just really frequently used designs such as:
I would do smth.
If I were you I would.
Subjunctive mood
There are two subjunctive: subjunctive subjunctive 1 and 2.
Subjunctive 1 has only one form of the present time. It is used to express the necessary action that may take place. For example:
It's important that he go there right now.
No matter what time relative we use subjunctive 1. It will always be present:
He demands (demanded, will demand) that you be quiet.
Subjunctive 2 is used:
1) to express an action that is contrary to reality.
2) If only he looked different!
If only it could always be the summer.
If you would like something, but in fact it is not, there is a great design:
I wish I could fly
Ie You like to wish that this were so. A translation of the opposite:
I wish I could go to the cinema.
I wish I knew about it.
2) If the clause, joins the main using the unions as if, as though - as though.
They spoke before her as if she were not there.
You just go out as though you were going for a walk.
He screamed as if he had seen a ghost.
1. The Category of Mood
Mood is the grammatical category of the verb reflecting the relation of the action denoted by the verb to reality from the speakers point of view.
In the sentences He listens attentively; Listen attentively; You would have listened attentively if you had been interested, we deal with the same action of listening, but in the first sentence the speaker presents the action as taking place in reality, whereas in the second sentence the speaker urges the listener to perform the action,; and in the third sentence the speaker presents the action as imaginary.
These different relations of the action to reality are expressed by different mood-forms of the verb: listens, listen, would have listened.
There is no unity of opinion concerning the category of mood in English. Thus A.I. Smirnitsky, O.S. Akhmanova, M. Ganshina and N. Vasilevskaya find six moods in Modern English (indicative, imperative, subjunctive I, subjunctive IF, conditional and suppositional), B.A. Ilyish, L.P. Vinokurova, V.N. Zhigadlo, I.P. Iva-nova, L.L. Iofik find only three moods - indicative, imperative and subjunctive. The latter, according to B.A. Ilyish appears in two forms - the conditional and the subjunctive. L. S. Barkhudarov and D.A. Shteling distinguish only the indicative and the subjunctive mood. The latter is subdivided into subjunctive I and subjunctive IF. The imperative and the conjunctive are treated as forms outside the category of mood.
G. N. Vorontsova distinguishes four moods in English:
1) indicative,
2) optative, represented in three varieties (imperative, desiderative, subjunctive),
3) speculative, found in two varieties (dubitative and irrealis) and 4) presumptive.
In general the number of English moods in different theories varies from two to seventeen.
In this work the indicative, imperative and subjunctive moods are considered.
The difficulty of distinguishing other moods from the indicative in English is connected with the fact that, barring be, they do not contain a single form which is not used in the indicative mood. At the same time the indicative mood contains many forms not used in other moods. The subjunctive mood is richer in forms than the imperative mood.
So the meaning of the three moods are distinguished in the language structure not so much by the opposition of individual forms (as is the case in the opposemes of other categories), as by the opposition of the systems of forms each mood possesses. By way of illustration let us compare the synthetic forms of the lexeme have in the three moods.
Indicative have, has, had
Subjunctive have, had
Imperative have
mood verb english
This is why it is difficult to represent the category of mood in opposemes, like other categories.
In speech, the meanings of the three moods are distinguished not so much by the forms of the verbs, as by their distribution.
Cf. When I need a thing, I go and buy it. We insist that he go and buy it. Go and buy it.
One of the most important differences between the indicative and the other moods is that the meaning of tense does not go with the meanings of subjunctive mood and imperative mood. Tense reflects the real time of a real action. The imperative and subjunctive moods represent the action not as real, but as desired or imagined, and the notions of real time are discarded 1.
The meaning of perfect order does not go with the meaning of imperative mood because one cannot require of anyone to fulfill an action preceding the request. But it is easy to imagine a preceding action. Therefore the system of the subjunctive mood includes opposites of order.
Aspect and voice opossums are characteristic of the systems of all moods, but the passive and continuous members of the opossums are very rarely used in the imperative mood. There are person opossums (though not systematically used) of only one type in the subjunctive mood system (should go - would go) and none in the imperative mood. The number oppose me was - were is sometimes realized in the subjunctive mood (colloquial). Opposites of the category of posteriority (shall go - should go; will go - would go) are typical only of the indicative mood.
1.1 The Indicative Mood
The indicative mood is the basic mood of the verb. Morphologically it is the most developed system including all the categories of the verb.
Semantically it is a fact mood. It serves to present an action as a fact of reality. It is the "most objective" or the "least subjective" of all the moods. It conveys minimum personal attitude to the fact. This becomes particularly manifest in such sentences as Water consists of oxygen and hydrogen where consists denotes an actual fact, and the speakers attitude is neutral.
We shall now proceed to the analysis of the grammatical categories of the indicative mood system.
The category of tense is a system of three-member opposemes such as writes - wrote - will write, is writing - was writing - will be writing showing the relation of the time of the action denoted by the verb to the moment of speech.
The time of an action or event can be expressed lexically with the help of such words and combinations of words as yesterday, next week, now, a year ago, at half past seven, on the fifth of March, in 1957, etc. It can also be shown grammatically by means of the category of tense.
The difference between the lexical and the grammatical expression of time is somewhat similar to the difference between the lexical and the grammatical expression of number.
a) Lexically it is possible to name any definite moment or period of time: a century, a year, a day, a minute. The grammatical meaning of tense is an abstraction from" only three particular tenses: the present, the past and the I future*.
b) Lexically a period of time is named directly (e. g. on Sunday). The grammatical indication of time is indirect: it is not time that a verb like asked names, but an action that took place before the moment of speech.
c) As usual, the grammatical meaning of tense is relative. Writes denotes a present action because it is contrasted with wrote denoting a past action and with will write naming a future action. Writing does not indicate the time of the action because it has not tense opposites. Can has only a past tense opposite, so it cannot refer to the past, but it may refer to the present and future (can do it yesterday is impossible, but can do it today, tomorrow is normal).
N o t e. By analogy with can, must has acquired the oblique meaning of present-future tense, but sometimes it refers to the past.
It is usual to express the notions of time graphically by means of notions of space. Let us then imagine the limitless stretch of time - a very long railway along which we are moving in a train.
Let us further suppose that the train is now at station C. This is, so to say, the present. Stations A, B and all other stations passed by the train are the past, and stations D, E and all other
stations the train is going to reach are in the future.
It would seem that the present is very insignificant, a mere point in comparison with the limitless past and future. But this point is of tremendous importance to the people in the train, because they are always in the present. When the train reaches station D, it ceases to be the future and becomes the present, while station C joins the past.
In reality, and accordingly in speech, the relation between the present, the past and the future is much more complicated. The present is reflected in speech not only as a mere point, the moment of speaking or thinking, but as a more or less long period of time including this moment.compare, for instance, the meanings of the word now in the following sentences:
1. A minute ago he was crying, and n o w he is laughing.
2. A century ago people did not even dream of the radio, and now we cannot imagine our life without it.
The period of time covered by the second now is much longer, without, definite limits, but it includes the moment of speaking.
In the sentence The Earth rotates round the Sun we also deal with the present. But the present in this case not only includes the present moment, but it covers an immense period of time stretching: in both directions from the present moment.
Thus the present is a variable period of time including the present moment or the moment of speech.
The past is the time preceding the present moment, and the future is the time following the present moment. Neither of them includes the present moment.
The correlation of time and tense is connected with the problem of the absolute and relative use of tense grammemes.
We say that some tense is absolute if it shows the time of the action in relation to the present moment (the moment of speech).
This is the case in the Russian sentences:
Он работает на заводе.
Он работал на заводе.
Он будет работать на заводе.
The same in English:
He works at a factory.
He worked at a factory.
He will work at a factory.
But very often tense reflects the time of an action not with regard to the moment of speech but to some other moment in the past or in the future, indicated by the tense of another verb.
E. g.
он работает на заводе
Он сказал, что он работал на заводе
он будет работать на заводе
он работает на заводе
Он скажет, что он работал на заводе
он будет работать на заводе
Here the tenses of the principal clauses сказал and скажет are used absolutely, while all the tenses of the subordinate clauses are used relatively. The present tense does not refer to the present time but to the time of the action сказал in the first case and скажет in the second. The future tense он будет работать does not indicate the time following the present moment, but the time following the moment of the action сказал in the first case and скажет in the second. The same holds true with regard to the past tense.
In English such relative use of tenses is also possible with regard to some future moment.
he works at a factory
He will say that he worked at a factory.
he will work at a factory.
But as a rule, this is impossible with regard to a moment in the past, as in
he works at a factory.
He said that he worked at a factory.
he will work at a factory.
Instead of that an Englishman uses:
he worked at a factory.
He said that he had worked at a factory.
he would work at a factory.
Why is the first version impossible, or at least uncommon? Because the tenses of works, worked, will work cannot be used relatively with regard to the past moment indicated by the verb said (as it would be in Russian, for instance). In English they are, as a rule, used absolutely, i. e. with regard to the moment of speech.
Therefore a present tense verb may be used here only if the time of the action it expresses includes the moment of speech, which occurs, for instance, in clauses expressing general statements (He said that water boils at 100o C), in clauses of comparison (Last year he spoke much worse than he does now), and in some other cases.
Similarly, a future tense verb may be used here if the action it expresses refers to some time following the moment of speech.
E. g. Yesterday I heard some remarks about the plan we shall discuss tomorrow.
The past tense of worked in the sentence He said that he worked at a factory also shows the past time not with regard to the time of the action of saying (as would be the case in the Russian sentence он сказал, что работает на заводе), but with regard to the moment of speech.
Since English has special forms of the verb to express precedence or priority - the perfect forms - the past perfect is used to indicate that an action preceded some other action (or event) in the past. He said that he ha d worked at a factory. But both in the principal and in the subordinate clause the tense of the verb is the same - the past tense used absolutely.
Summing up, we" may say that a past tense verb is used in an English subordinate clause not because there is a past tense verb in the principal clause, i. e. as a result of the so-called sequence of tenses, but simply in accordance with its meaning of past tense.
The category of posteriority is the system of two-member opposemes, like shall come - should come, will be writing - would be writing, showing whether an action is posterior with regard to the moment of speech or to some moment in the past.
As we know, a past tense verb denotes an action prior to the moment of speech and a future tense verb names a posterior action with regard to the moment of speech. When priority or posteriority is expressed in relation to the moment of speech, we call it absolute. But there may be relative priority or posteriority, with regard to some other moment. A form like had written, for instance, expresses an action prior to some moment in the past, i. e. it expresses relative priority. The form should enter expresses posteriority with regard to so Tie past moment, i. e. relative posteriority.
The first, member of the opposeme shall enter - should enter has, the meaning of absolute posteriority, and the second member possesses the meaning of relative posteriority.
These two meanings are the particular manifestations of the general meaning of the - category, that of posteriority.
The grammemes represented by should come, would come are traditionally called the future in the past, a name which reflects their meaning of relative posteriority. But there is no agreement as to the place these grammemes occupy in the system of the English verb.
Some linguists 1 regard them as isolated grammemes, outside the system of morphological categories. Others 3 treat them as some kind of dependent future tense and classify them with those finite verb forms which depend on the nature of the sentence. A.I. Smirnitsky tries to prove that they are not tense forms but mood forms, since they are homonymous with the so-called conditional mood forms.
Cf. I thought it would rain. I think it would rain if it were not so windy.
In our opinion none of these theories are convincing.
1. The grammemes discussed are not isolated. As shown above they belong to the morphological category of posteriority.
2. They are not "tense forms". In the sentences
I know she will come.
I knew she would come.
I had Mown she would come.
neither will come - would come, nor knew - had known is a tense opposeme, because the difference between the members of the opposemes is not that of tense. The members of the first opposeme share the meaning of future tense, those of the second opposeme - the meaning of past tense. The only meanings the members of the first opposeme distinguish are those of absolute and relative posteriority. The members of the second opposeme distinguish only the meanings of perfect. - non-perfect order.
3. The grammemes in question are not mood forms. As we know all the grammemes of the subjunctive mood (with the exception of be) are homonymous with those of the indicative mood. So the fact that would rain is used in both moods proves nothing.
The examples produced by A.I. Smirnitsky clearly show the difference between would rain in the sentence I thought it would rain and in the sentence I think it would rain, if it were not so windy. The first would rain is opposed to will rain (I think it will rain) and denotes a real action following some other action in the past (I thought…). In other words, it possesses the meanings of indicative mood and relative posteriority. The second would rain cannot be opposed to will rain. It denotes an imaginary action simultaneous with or following the moment of speech (I think…). Hence, it has the meanings of non-perfect order and subjunctive mood.
The category of person in the Indo-European languages serves to present an action as associated by the speaking person with himself (or a group of persons including the speaker), the person or persons addressed, and the person or thing (persons or things) not participating in the process of speech. (Cf. with the meanings of the personal pronouns.) Thus in Russian it is represented in sets of three-member opposemes such as
читаю - читаешь - читает
читаем - читаете - читают
Likewise in Modern German we have
gehe - gehst - geht
gehen - geht - gehen
In Modern English the category of person has certain peculiarities.
1. The second member of the opposemes
speak - speakest - speaks
am - art - is
is not used colloquially. It occurs in Modern English only in poetry, in solemn or pathetic prose with a distinct archaic flavour, e. g.:
Kind nature, thou art
to all a bountiful mother. (Carlyle).
The category of person is practically represented by two-member opposemes: speak - speaks, am - is.
2. Person opposemes are neutralized when associated with the plural meaning.
A.I. Smirnitsky thinks that owing to the presence of the plural personal pronouns (we, you, they) person distinctions are felt in the plural of the verb as well.
E. g. we know - you know - they know.
This idea is open to criticism. If the verb itself (in the plural) does not show any person distinctions we are bound to admit that in Modern English the verb in the plural has no person.
Thus if we overlook the archaic writest or speakest, we should say that in all verbs (but the defective verbs having no person distinctions at all: he can, she may) the person opposerne is found only in the singular, and it consists of two members (speak - speaks), the third person with a positive morpheme being opposed to the first person with a zero morpheme.
3. Person distinctions do not go with the meaning of the past tense in the English verb, e. g. I (he) asked… (cf. the Russian Я (он/ты) спросил).
4. As regards all those groups of grammemes where the word-morphemes shall and should are opposed to the word-morphemes will, would, one has to speak of the first person expressed by forms with shall (should) as opposed to the non-first person expressed by the forms with will (would): The person distinctions in such opposemes (shall come - will come) are not connected-with number meanings.
These distinctions, however, are being gradually obliterated through the spreading of - ll and the extensive use of will and would for shall and should.
The category of number shows whether the action is associated with one doer or with more than one. Accordingly it denotes something fundamentally different from what is indicated by the number of nouns. We see here not the oneness or more-than-oneness of actions, but the connection with the singular or plural doer. As M. Bryant puts it, "He eats three times a day" does not indicate a single eating but a single eater.
The category is represented in its purity in the opposeme was - were and accordingly in all analytical forms containing was - were (was writing - were writing, was written - were written).
In am - are, is - are or am, is - are it is blended with person. Likewise in speaks - speak we actually have the third person singular opposed to the non-third-person-singular.
Accordingly the category of number is but scantily represented in Modern English.
Some verbs do not distinguish number at all because of their peculiar historical development: / (we) can…, he (they) must…, others are but rarely used in the singular because the meaning of oneness is hardly compatible with their lexical meanings, e. g. to crowd, to conspire, etc.
It is natural, therefore, that in Modern English the verb is most closely connected with its subject, which may be left out only when the. doer of the action is quite clear from the context.
1.2 The Subjunctive Mood
Probably the only thing linguists are unanimous about with regard to the subjunctive mood is that It represents an action as a non-fact, as something imaginary, desirable, problematic, contrary to reality. In all other respects opinions differ.
To account for this difference of opinion it is necessary to take into consideration at least two circumstances:
1) The system of the subjunctive mood in Modern English has been and still is in a state of development. There are many elements in it which are rapidly falling into disuse and there are new elements coming into use.
2) The authors describing the subjunctive mood often make no distinction between language and speech, system and usage. The opposition of the three moods as systems is mixed up with detailed descriptions of the various shades of meaning certain forms express in different environments.
The development of the modal verbs and that of the subjunctive mood - the lexical and morphological ways of expressing modality - have much in common.
The original present tense forms of the modal verbs were ousted by the past tense forms (may, can). New past tense forms were created (could, might, must, ought). The new past tense forms must and ought have again superseded their present tense opposites and are now the only forms of these verbs.
The forms be, have, write, go, etc., which were originally forms of the present tense, subjunctive mood grammemes, have suffered a similar process and are now scarcely used in colloquial English. They have become archaic and are found as survivals in poetry, high prose, official documents and certain set expressions like Long live…, suffice it to say…, etc. The former past tense subjunctive has lost its past meaning, and its forms are mostly used to denote an action not preceding the moment of speech.
The new analytical forms with should have replaced the former present subjunctive in popular speech.compare the archaic Take heed, lest thou fall (Maxwell) and the usual
Take heed, lest you should fall.
In American English where many archaic features are better preserved (Cf. gotten for got) the former present tense forms are more common.
E. g. She demanded furiously that the old man. be left alone. (Dreiser).
Some new elements have come and are still coming into the system of the subjunctive mood. In Old English the subjunctive mood system did not contain any person opposemes. They were introduced later together with should and would, but these distinctions are observed only in a few types of sentences.
With the loss of the - en suffix of the plural the subjunctive mood system lost all number opposemes in Middle English. At present such opposemes are being introduced together with the word was as opposed to were.
E. g. Youd be glad if I w a s dead. (Bennett).
Barring the archaic present tense forms, the subjunctive mood system of Modern English makes use of those forms which express a past tense meaning in the indicative mood system. Since they are not opposed to the present tense and future tense grammemes, they have no tense meaning. What unites them is the meaning of irreality as opposed to the meaning of reality common to all the indicative mood grammemes.
Having no tense opposemes the subjunctive mood system makes extensive use of order opposemes. The perfect forms are used to express an action imagined as prior to some other action or event.
E. g. The Married Womans Property Act would so have interfered with him if he hadnt mercifully married before it was passed. (Galsworthy).
The perfect forms, naturally, express actions imagined as prior to the event of speaking, i. e. actions imagined in the past.
E. g. If I had known that, I s ho u I d have acted differently. It is strange t/iat he s h o u I d have spoken so.
The non-perfect forms do not express priority. The action they denote may be thought of as simultaneous with some event or even following it. The order of the action in such cases is expressed not by the form of the verb but by the whole situation or lexically.
Cf. I wish he were here now. I wish he were here tomorrow. Even if he c a m e to-morrow that will be too Me. (Ruck).
The passive voice and continuous aspect meanings are expressed much in the same way as in the indicative mood system.
E. g. In a moment he would have been drowned. (Braddon).
She sat not reading, wondering if he were coming in… (Galsworthy).
The various shades of meaning subjunctive mood grammemes may acquire in certain environments, and the types of sentences and clauses they are used in, are not part of the morphological system of moods and need not be treated here. Still an, exception can be made.
Some linguists l think that would help in the sentence If he were here he would help us represents a separate mood called conditional.
The arguments are as follows:
1. The form would help expresses dependent unreality: the realization of the action depends on the condition expressed in the subordinate clause (If-clause).
2. It is mainly used in the principal clause of a complex sentence with a subordinate clause of unreal condition.
3. Should is used for the first person and would for the other persons.
Let us analyze these arguments.
1. If the meaning of dependent unreality is to be treated as the meaning of a separate mood, then the meaning of dependent reality in a similar sentence If he is here, he will help us must likewise be regarded as the meaning of a separate mood which is to be distinguished from the indicative mood. The meaning of tell in the sentence If you see her tell her to come can also be defined as dependent urging and be regarded as the meaning of a separate mood distinct from the imperative mood.
2. The second argument deals with speech environment and is of little value since the same authors produce examples of the conditional mood in different types of sentences.
Would you mind my opening the window?
I should like to speak to you, etc.
3. The third argument is justly rejected by G. N. Vorontsova who produces many literary examples to show that would-Forms are used with the first person as often as should-forms.
E. g. If I had held another pistol in my hand /would have shot him. I would love to think that you took an interest in teaching me… I wish I had a lot of money, I wouldnt live another day in London. (Galsworthy).
Besides, the popular use of forms with - `d instead of should and would shows the oblitaration of person distinctions.
4. The name conditional hardly fits, seeing that the forms with should-would are as a rule not used in conditional clauses. They are mostly used in principal clauses or simple sentences, which distinguishes their distribution from that of forms without should - would used almost exclusively in subordinate clauses.
E. g. After all, if he lost it would not be he who paid. (Galsworthy).
Under normal conditions Winifred would merely have locked the door. (lb).
The difference between the two sets of opposemes
had written (order)
wrote were written (voice)
were writing (aspect)
should have written (order)
should write should be written (voice)
should be writing (aspect)
would write (person, irregular)
Is thus a matter of usage. That does not exclude, of course, "the possibility of a language category with speech significance (cf. the categories of case, voice). Hence the necessity of further investigation.
What unites all the grammemes above and distinguishes them from the homonymous grammemes of the indicative mood as a system is
1) the meaning of "non-fact", the presentation of the action as something imaginary,
2) the system of opposemes, as contrasted with that of the indicative mood.
1.3 The Imperative Mood
The imperative mood represents an action as a command, urging, request, exhortation addressed to ones interlocutor^). It is a direct expression of ones will. Therefore it is much more subjective than the indicative mood. Its modal meaning is very strong and distinct.
The imperative mood is morphologically the least developed of all moods. In fact, the grammeme write, know, warn, search, do, etc. is the only one regularly met in speech (as to dont write, do write). The continuous and passive opposites of this grammeme (be writing, be searching, etc; be known, be warned, etc.) are very rare.
E. g. B e always searching for new sensations. (Wilde). Be warned in time, mend your manner. (Shaw).
Though the system of the imperative mood does not contain person opposemes, it cannot be said that there is no meaning of person in the imperative mood grammemes. On the contrary, all of them are united by the meaning of second person because it is always to his interlocutor (the second person) that the speaker addresses his order or request expressed with the help of - imperative mood forms. Thus the meaning of "second person" is a lexico-grammatical meaning common to all the imperative mood grammemes. This meaning makes it unnecessary to use the subject you with predicate verbs in the imperative mood. But sometimes you is used for emphasis, as in Dont you do it!
Some linguists are of the opinion that Modern English possesses analytical forms of the imperative mood for the first and the third person built up with the help of the semantically weakened unstressed let, as in Let him come, Let us g o, etc.
G. N. Vorontsova gives a detailed analysis of these constructions to prove that they are analytical forms of the imperative:
1) Sentences like Lets let newspaper reporters take a crack at her (Gardner) prove that unlike the second let which is a notional verb the first let is devoid of lexical meaning.
2) It is quite possible to treat the objective case pronouns in the sentences Let me be frank, Let him look out, Let them both see, as the subjects.
3) An order can be addressed not only to the second person but to the third person as well.
Compare: Someone make an offer - and quick! (Barr).
Let someone make an offer.
4) The recognition of the let-constructions as the analytical forms of the imperative would make the imperative a developed morphological system.
All these considerations are serious enough. Still there are some objections to these constructions being regarded as analytical forms of the imperative.
1. There is some difference in meaning between Go! and Let him go. In the second case no direct urging is expressed as it is typical of the imperative mood.
2. Cases like Do not let us ever allude to those times, with the word-morpheme do, alongside of such sentences as Let it not be doubted that they were nice, well-behaved girls (Bennett), without the word-morpheme do, show that let has not yet established itself as a word-morpheme of the imperative mood.
To be on the safe side, we shall assume that the if-constructions are analytical words in the making. The imperative mood is a verb form which makes a command or a request. The imperative mood also occurs in sentences that express the following situations:
1. Grant or deny permission (Do not take the car out tonight.)
2. Make offers (Come to my party!)
3. Apologize (Excuse me)
4. Well-wishing (Have a good day!)
We usually use the second person (plural or singular) with an unspoken "you" for the subject.
Examples:
1. Come in!
2. Shut that door.
3. Stop the bleeding.
The exeption to the use of the second person is when you want to include yourself in your suggestion, here we use "Let's.".
1. Let's go to the pub.
2. Let's eat something, we are all hungry.
Forming Affirmative and Negative Imperatives
The imperative form of English verbs is identical to the base form (an infinitive without the p-word to functioning as the infinitive marker) of any English verb
The negative imperative form of English verbs is formed by the present tense form of the verb do followed by the adverb not and then the affirmative imperative form.
2. Grammatical Mood in English
Grammatical mood is defined as a set of distinctive verb forms that express modality. Modality is the grammaticalized expression of the subjective attitude of the speaker, which includes opinions about possibility, probability, necessity, obligation, permissibility, ability, desire, and contingency. Although modality in English is often expressed through modal verbs, the English language also has three grammatical moods:
1. Indicative mood
2. Subjunctive mood
3. Imperative mood
Indicative Mood
The first grammatical mood in English is the indicative mood. The indicative mood allows speakers to form sentences that express assertions, denials, and questions of actuality or strong probability. For example, the following sentences are examples of the English indicative:
· Coal mining is a major industry of Appalachia.
· Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable came to Illinois via the Mississippi River.
· We still need someone to buy ingredients for the punch.
· Do you know where the old man lives?
· How much wood does a woodchuck chuck?
· Has the train arrived?
The indicative mood is the most frequently used grammatical mood in the English language. The majority of sentences, at least in written English, are in the indicative mood.
Subjunctive Mood
The second grammatical mood in English is the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive mood allows speakers to form sentences that express commands, requests, suggestions, wishes, hypotheses, purposes, doubts, and suppositions that are contrary to fact at the time of the utterance. For example, the following sentences are examples of the English subjunctive:
· It is recommended that you be on time.
· He will let us know if he can arrive early.
· If I were a rich man, then I would have all the money in the world.
· My boss insists that the computer be repaired by a licensed contractor.
· They wish we were able to type faster.
· Had the man been driving carefully, he would not have crashed into the tree.
The subjunctive mood is only distinguishable from the indicative mood third person singular present subjunctive and in most persons and numbers that require a conjugated form of the verb to be. However, native speakers often use indicative forms in place of subjunctive forms. The present subjunctive mood also always appears in verb phrases that contain modal verbs.
Imperative Mood
The third grammatical mood in English is the imperative mood. The imperative mood allows speakers to form sentences that make direct commands, express requests, and grant or deny permission. For example, the following sentences are examples of the English imperative:
· Dance like you've never danced before!
· Stop at the corner.
· Turn right at the courthouse.
· Eat your vegetables!
· Party like it's 1999.
· Swallow the entire does of medicine.
The imperative mood is also the most frequently used mood in the English language. Both written and spoken commands, directions, and recipes all take the imperative mood of English verbs.
2.1 Moods of the Verb
Verb moods are classifications that indicate the attitude of the speaker. Verbs have three moods-indicative, imperative, and subjunctive.
Indicative and imperative moods
The indicative and the imperative moods are fairly common. You use the indicative mood in most statements and questions.
He walks every day after lunch.
Does he believe in the benefits of exercise?
You use the imperative in requests and commands. Imperative statements have an understood subject of "you" and therefore take second©\person verbs.
Subjunctive Mood
Verb tenses in the subjunctive mood are used in special kinds of statements. The most common use of the subjunctive mood is in contrary©\to©\fact or hypothetical statements. In your own writing, you must decide which statements should be in the subjunctive mood. If something is likely to happen, use the indicative. If something is hypothetical, or contrary to fact, use the subjunctive.
Present tense subjunctive
If I were king, you would be queen. (In the subjunctive, were is used for all persons.)
If he worked, he could earn high wages.
Past tense subjunctive
If I had been king, you would have been queen.
If he had worked, he could have earned high wages.
These contrary©\to©\fact statements have two clauses: the if clause and the consequences clause. The forms of the verbs in these clauses are different from those of verbs used in the indicative mood.
In the if clause, use the subjunctive. Table 1 shows how it is formed. Note that the subjunctive present tense is the same as the indicative past tense.
Present Subjunctive
Verb to be: were
If I were king, If he were king.
Other verbs: worked
If I worked, If he worked.
Note in Table 2 how the subjunctive past tense is the same as the indicative past perfect tense.
Past Subjunctive
Verb to be: had been
If I had been king, If he had been king.
Other verbs: had worked
If I had worked, If he had worked.
In the consequences clause, use the conditional (Tables 3 and 4), which is formed with could or would.
Present Conditional
could, would + base form of verb
You would be queen.
He could earn high wages.
Past Conditional
could, would + have + past participle of verb
You would have been queen.
He could have earned high wages.
Not all clauses beginning with if are contrary to fact. When an if clause indicates something that is likely to happen, use the indicative, not the subjunctive.
If I study hard [likely to happen], I will pass the test.
If his fever continues to fall [likely to happen], he will recover.
2.2 The main cases of the use of The Subjunctive Mood in English
1. Simple sentences
In simple sentences the synthetic forms of the Subjunctive Mood are more frequent than the analytical forms.
In simple sentences the Subjunctive Mood is used:
· To express wish:
e. g. Success attend you!
· To express wish the analytical subjunctive with the mood auxiliary may is also used.
e. g. May you live long and die happy!
· To express an unreal wish:
e. g. If only he were free!
· In oaths and imprecations:
e. g. Manners be hanged!
· In some expressions:
e. g. Be it so!
God forbid!
The Subjunctive Mood in simple sentences is characteristic of literary style, except in oaths and imprecations, which belong to low colloquial style.
2. complex sentences
· The Subjunctive Mood is used in conditional sentences to
express an unreal condition (in the subordinate clause) and an unreal consequence (in the principal clause).
In sentences of unreal condition referring to the present of future the past Subjunctive of the verb to be is used in the subordinate clause; with other verbs the same meaning is expressed by the Past Infinitive of the Indicative Mood. In the principal clause we find the analytical subjunctive consisting of the mood auxiliary should or would and the Indefinite Infinitive. Should is used with the first person singular and plural, would is used with the second and third person singular and plural.
e. g. The world would be healthier if every chemist's shop in England were demolished.
An unreal condition referring to the future can also be expressed by the Past Subjunctive of the verb to be + to - Infinitive of the notional verb or the analytical Subjunctive with the mood auxiliary should for all the persons. Such sentences are often translated by means of "Если бы случилось так…", "Случилось так…"
e. g. Well, Major, if you should send me to a difficult spot - with this man alone, I'd feel secure.
If in the subordinate clause the mood auxiliary should is used, we often find the Indicative Mood in the principal clause.
e. g. If he should come, ask him to wait.
In sentences of unreal condition referring to the Past Perfect of the Indicative Mood is used in the subordinate clause; in the principal clause we find the analytical subjunctive consisting of the mood auxiliary should or would and the Perfect Infinitive.
e. g. If I had consulted my own interests, I should never have come here.
There are two mixed types of sentences of unreal condition. In the first of these the condition refers to the past and the consequence refers to the present or future.
e. g. If you had taken your medicine yesterday, you would be well now.
In the second type the condition refers to no particular time and the consequence to the past.
e. g. If he were not so absent-minded, he would not have mistaken you for your sister.
In sentences of unreal condition the modal verbs might and cold are often used; they fully retain their modal meaning and therefore they do not form the analytical subjunctive.
Here we have the group "modal verb + Infinitive" which forms a compound verbal modal predicate, whereas the analytical subjunctive forms a simple predicate.
e. g. I could have done very well if I had been without the Murdstones.
Would, when used in the subordinate clause of a sentence of unreal condition, is also a modal verb forming with the infinitive a compound verbal modal predicate.
e. g. If you would come and see us…, mother would be as proud of your company as I should be.
The conjunctions introducing adverbial clauses of condition are: if, in case, provided, suppose, unless, and some others.
e. g. Suppose he wrote to you, would you answer?
Adverbial clauses of condition containing the verbs had, were, could and should are often introduced without any conjunctions. In these cases we find inversion.
e. g. Should he come this way, I will speak to him.
The Subjunctive Mood is used in sentences expressing what may be understood as an unreal consequence, the condition of which is not expressed as such.
e. g. There was no piano… because it would have taken up much room.
· The Subjunctive Mood is used in adverbial clauses of purpose.
When a clause of purpose is introduced by the conjunctions that, so that, in order that, we find the analytical subjunctive with the mood auxiliary may (might) if the principal clause refers to the present of future; if the principal clause refers to the past, only the form might is used.
As has already been stated, the mood auxiliary may (might) retains in this case a shade of modality.
e. g. He got up, cautiously, so that he might not wake the sleeping boy.
If a clause of purpose is introduced by lest the mood auxiliary should (for all persons) is generally used. Lest has a negative meaning (чтобы не).
e. g. She opened the window lest it should be stuffy in the room.
· The Subjunctive Mood is used in adverbial clauses of concession.
Adverbial clauses of concession are introduced by the conjunctions and connectives though, although, however, no matter, whatever, whoever, etc. The analytical subjunctive with the mood auxiliary may (might) is generally used.
e. g. Though he may (might) be tired he will go to the concert.
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