The problems of the Subjunctive Mood in English - Иностранные языки и языкознание курсовая работа

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The problems of the Subjunctive Mood in English

The usage of the Subjunctive Mood in speech in the works of foreign and Russian grammar schools. Comparing different approaches to the problem of the Subjunctive Mood with the purpose of investigating the material from English and Russian sources.


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State educational institution of vocational training
« The problems of the Subjunctive Mood in English »
Федеральное агентство по образованию по образованию
Государственное образовательное учреждение среднего профессионального образования
Красногорский оптико-электронный колледж
« Проблемы сослагательного н аклонения в английском языке »
1.1 Foreign linguists' speculations about the Subjunctive Mood
1.2 The Subjunctive Mood from the point of view of the representatives of the Russian linguistic school
2. The main cases of the use of the Subjunctive Mood in English
3. The use of The Subjunctive Mood in the works of English and American writers
There are many controversial and not thoroughly investigated points in the English grammar. Nevertheless, in my opinion one of the most difficult and not clear both from the point of view of its definition and description and from the point of view of its practical implementation in speech is the subject of the Subjunctive Mood. Even the name of this grammatical category seems ambiguous in term of its being approached and characterized by different outstanding linguists in our country and abroad.
No wonder this problem couldn't but arise my curiosity and language interest. I have made up my mind to consider the material compiled on this problem in different sources to clear up the point for myself and to have a better idea about the usage of the Subjunctive Mood in speech.
I will learn more information about points of views of English and Russian grammarians. It is very interesting for me to know how English linguists understand problem of The Subjunctive Mood and what way Russian ones do it. I will also introduce the most important point of my diploma paper - the usage of the Subjunctive Mood. I want to learn in what cases we should use the Subjunctive Mood.
Thus the object of my paper is the Subjunctive Mood itself.
The subject of my diploma paper is the Subjunctive Mood in the works of foreign and Russian grammar schools as well as the main cases of the Subjunctive Mood usage.
The aim of my diploma paper is to compare different approaches to the problem of the Subjunctive Mood with the purpose of investigating the material available for me about the Subjunctive Mood from English and Russian sources.
My diploma paper consists of three chapters: in the 1 st chapter I consider different approaches to the Subjunctive Mood understanding both in our country and abroad. In the 2 nd chapter I present the main cases of the Subjunctive Mood use and perform the results obtained. There is a conclusion too. To write my diploma paper I used the works of the outstanding English grammarians, such as: H. Sweet, G.O. Curme, O. Jespersen and Russian scholars: V. Kaushanskaya, V. Vinogradov. You can see the names of their works in the list of literature, on page 25, and the information from Internet.
The 3 d chapter represents my practical contribution into the problem of the Subjunctive Mood. In this chapter I analyze the use of the Subjunctive Mood by some English and American writers and draw the conclusion based on the material collected.
The literary sources are given as supplementary material after Bibliography.
1.1 Foreign linguists' speculations about the Subjunctive Mood
As we shall further see there is no unity on the Subjunctive Mood among the world famous foreign grammarians. I would like to dwell on the views of the most outstanding linguists.
By the moods of a verb H. Sweet in his work «A new English Grammar (Part I)» understands grammatical forms expressing different relations between subject and predicate. Thus, if a language has special forms to express commands as distinguished from statements, we include the forms that express command under the term «imperative mood». Thus in English come! is in the imperative mood, while the statement he comes is in the «indicative» mood.
In English the only inflectional moods are the indicative and subjunctive. But the inflections of the English verb are so scanty that we need not be surprised to find that the distinction between indicative and subjunctive is very slight. The only regular inflection by which the subjunctive is distinguished from the indicative in English is that of the third person singular present, which drops the s of the indicative (he sees) in the subjunctive (he see). In the verb to be , however, further distinctions are made: indicative I am, he is, he was , subjunctive I be, he be, he were , although in the spoken language the only distinction that is still kept us is that between was and were. Consequently the sense of the distinction in function between subjunctive and indicative has almost died out in English, and use the subjunctive were only in combination with other mood-forms, the other subjunctive inflections surviving only in a few special phrases and constructions, such as God, save the Queen!, where the subjunctive expresses wish, being thus equivalent to the Greek optative.
The few distinction that English makes between fact-statements and thought-statements are mainly expressed, not by inflections, but by auxiliaries (periphrastic moods), and by peculiar uses of tense-distinctions. The following are the auxiliary forms:
a) The combination of should and would with the infinitive - the conditional mood.
b) The combination of may and its preterite might with the infinitive is called the permissive mood.
c) The combination of the finite forms of the verb to be with the supine is called compulsive mood.
We use tenses to express thought-statements in the hypothetical clauses of conditional sentences, as in if I knew his address I would write him; if it were possible I would do it . In the latter example the hypothesis is shown not only by the preterite tense, but also by the subjunctive inflection, which is really superfluous. When a thought-statement is expressed by a tense in this way, H. Sweet calls it a tense-mood. Were in if it were is a subjunctive tense-mood.
As we see, in some conditional sentences all three ways of expressing thought-statement are used.
G.O. Curme in the work «A Grammar of the English Language» considers moods as the changes in the form of the verb to show the various ways in which the action or state is thought of by the speaker.
1. Indicative Mood. This form represents something as a fact, or as in close relation with reality, or in interrogative form inquires after a fact.
2. Subjunctive Mood. The function of the subjunctive mood is to represent something, not as an actual reality, but as formed in the mind of the speaker as a desire, wish, volition, plan, conception, thought; something with more or less hope of realization, or, in the case of a statement, with more or less belief, sometimes with little or no hope or faith.
The various meanings may be classified under two general heads - the optative subjunctive and the potential subjunctive. The optative subjunctive represents something as desired, demanded, required. The potential subjunctive marks something as a mere conception of the mind, but at the same time represents it as something that may probably be or become a reality or on the other hand as something that is contrary to fact.
H. Whitehall in the work «Structural Essentials of English» says that Mood (or mode) establishes the speaker's or writer's mood about the actuality of a happening. The indicative mood indicates that what he says must be regarded as a fact, i.e., as having occurred or as occurring; the so-called subjunctive mood implies that he is doubtful or uncertain about its occurrence.
Although the subjunctive is gradually dying out of the language, English is rich in devices for expressing one's psychological moods toward happenings that are imaginary.
Our apparatus for expressing mood suggests that in the use of verb word-groups, the speaker's or writer's mental attitudes are of great importance.
Many grammarians enumerate the following moods in English, etc.: indicative, subjunctive, imperative, infinitive, and participle. O. Jespersen as it can be seen from «The Philosophy of Grammar» considers that infinitives and participles cannot be coordinated with the others, and we shall therefore in this chapter deal with the first three moods only. These are sometimes called fact-mood, thought-mood, and will-mood respectively. But they do not express different relations between subject and predicate. It is much more correct to say that they express certain attitudes of the mind of the speaker towards the contents of the sentence.
O. Jespersen in his work «A modern English Grammar» presents forms of the Subjunctive Mood in the table:
For expressing unreal action, simultaneous or planning action towards now
For expressing unreal action, past towards now
1.2 The Subjunctive Mood from the point of view of the representatives of the Russian linguistic school
The category of mood in the present English verb has given rise to so many discussions, and has been treated in so many different ways, that it seems hardly possible to arrive at any more or less convincing and universally acceptable conclusion concerning it. Indeed, the only points in the sphere of mood which have not so far been disputed seem to be these: there is a category of mood in Modern English; there are at least two moods in the modern English verb, one of which is the Subjunctive. These points were discussed not only by English grammarians, but Russian grammarians too.
Academician V. Vinogradov in his work «Russian Language» gave the definition of the category of mood: «Mood expresses the relation of the action to reality, as stated by the speaker.»
The relations between meaning and form will be expressed by two different series of external signs.
The first of these two points may be illustrated by sequence we should come , which means one thing in the sentence I think we should come here again tomorrow; it means another thing in the sentence if we knew that he wants us we should come to see him, and it means another thing again in the sentence How queer that we should come at the very moment when you were talking about us! In a similar way, several meanings may be found in the sequence he would come in different contexts.
The second of the two points may be illustrated by comparing the two sentences, I suggest that he go and I suggest that he should go, and we will for the present neglect the fact that the first of the two variants is more typical of American, and the second of British English.
Matters are still further complicated by two phenomena where we are faced with a choice between polysemy and homonymy. One of these concerns forms like lived, knew, etc. Such forms appear in two types of contexts, of which one may be exemplified by the sentences, He lived here five years ago, or I knew it all along, and the other by the sentences If he lived here he would come at on ce, or, If I knew his address I should write to him.
In sentences of the first type the form obviously is the past tense of the indicative mood. The second type admits of two interpretations: either the form lived, knew, etc. are the same forms of the past indicative that were used in the first type, but they have acquired another meaning in this particular context, or else the forms lived, knew, etc. are forms of the past indicative but are basically different.
There is another peculiar complication in the analysis of mood. The question is, what verbs are auxiliaries of Mood in Modern English? The verbs should and would are auxiliaries expressing unreality. But the question is less clear with the verb may when used in such sentences as Come closer that I may hear what you say. Is the group may hear some mood form of the verb hear , or is it a free combination of two verbs, thus belonging entirely to the field of syntax, not morphology? The same question may be asked about the verb may in such sentences as May you be happy! Where it is part of a group used to express a wish, and is perhaps a mood auxiliary. We ought to seek an objective criterion which would enable us to arrive at a convincing conclusion.
All these considerations, varied as they are, make the problem of mood in Modern English extremely difficult to solve and they seem to show in advance that no universally acceptable solution can be hoped for in a near future. Those proposed so far have been extremely unlike each other. Owning to the difference of approach to moods, grammarians have been vacillating between two extremes - 3 moods (indicative, subjunctive and imperative), put forward by many grammarians, and 16 moods, as proposed by M. Deutschbein. Between these extremes there are intermediate views, such as that of Prof. A. Smirnitsky, who proposed a system of 6 moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive I, subjunctive II, suppositional, and conditional), and who was followed in this respect by M. Ganshina and N. Vasilevskaya.
If we look through the meaning of the mood forms, we obtain the following headings:
Inducement (order, request, prayer, and the like)
Possibility (action thought of as conditionally possible, or as purpose of another action, etc.)
come (!) (no ending, no auxiliary, and usually without subject, 2 nd person only)
(he) come (no ending, no auxiliary)
Should come (should for all persons)
came, had come (same as past or past perfect indicative), used in subordinate clauses
We would thus get either four moods, or three moods, or two moods. The choice between these variants will remain arbitrary and is unlikely ever to be determined by means of any objective data.
If, on the other hand, we start from the means of expressing moods we are likely to get something like this system:
come (!) (no ending, no auxiliary, and usually without subject)
(he) come (no ending in any persons, no auxiliary)
In this way we should obtain different system, comprising six moods, with the following meanings:
A similar problem concerns the groups «should + infinitive» and «would + infinitive». Two views are possible here. If we have decided to avoid homonymy as far as possible, we will say that a group of this type is basically a tense (the future-in-the-past), which under certain specified conditions may express an unreal action - the consequence of an unfulfilled condition.
If we endorse one of the views, that is, if we take the temporal and the modal groups «should (would) + infinitive» to be homonyms, the patterns themselves will not change. The change will affect the headings. We shall have to say, in that case, that the patterns serve to distinguish between two basically different forms sounding alike. Again, just as in the case of lived and knew , this will be a matter of interpreting facts, rather than of the facts as such.
To sum up the whole discussion about categories of the verb found in conditional sentences, the simplest view, and the one to be preferred is that we have here forms of the indicative mood in a special use. Another view is that we have here forms of special moods, and that they are distinguished from each other according to the category of correlation.
2. The main cases of the use of The Subjunctive Mood in English
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 the analytical subjunctive with the mood auxiliary may is also used.
e.g. May you live long and die happy!
The Subjunctive Mood in simple sentences is characteristic of literary style, except in oaths and imprecations, which belong to low colloquial style.
· 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 u s…, 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.
If the action of the subordinate clause is prior to that of the principal clause the Perfect Infinitive is generally used.
e.g. However badly he may have behaved to you in the past he is still your brother.
· The Subjunctive Mood is used in adverbial clauses of time and place
after the conjunctions whenever and wherever ; in these cases the clauses have an additional concessive meaning.
e.g. Whenever you may (might) come, you are welcome.
· The Subjunctive Mood is used in adverbial clauses of comparison ( or manner) introduced by the conjunctions as if and as though ( the latter is more literary).
If the action of subordinate clause is simultaneous with that of the principal clause the Past Subjunctive of the verb to be is used; with other verbs the same meaning is expressed by the Past Indefinite of the Indicative Mood.
e.g. She speaks about him as if she knew him well.
If the action of the subordinate clause is prior to that of the principal clause the Past Perfect of the Indicative Mood is used.
e.g. She speaks about him as if she had known him for years.
· The Subjunctive Mood is used in predicative clauses:
a) introduced by the conjunctions as if, as though, when we find the link verbs to be, to fell, to look, to seem, etc. in the principal clause.
If the action of subordinate clause is simultaneous with that of the principal clause the Past Subjunctive of the verb to be is used; with other verbs the same meaning is expressed by the Past Indefinite of the Indicative Mood.
If the action of the subordinate clause is prior to that of the principal clause the Past Perfect of the Indicative Mood is used.
e.g. I fell as if we were back seven years, Jon.
b) when the subject of the principal clause is expressed by an abstract noun such as wish, suggestion, aim, idea, etc. In this case the analytical subjunctive with the mood auxiliary should (for all persons) is used.
e.g. One of the conditions was that I should go abroad.
· The Subjunctive Mood is used in subject clause after a principal clause of the type It is necessary, It is important, etc.
It is recommended that smb. should do smth.
The analytical subjunctive with the mood auxiliary should is used for all persons.
e.g. It was necessary that the child's history should be known to none.
· The Subjunctive Mood is used in object clauses:
a) When the predicate of the principal clause is expressed by the verb to
wish . If the action expressed in the object clause is simultaneous with that of the principal clause the Past Subjunctive of the verb to be is used; with other verbs the same meaning is expressed by the Past Indefinite of the Indicative Mood.
If the action expressed in the object clause is prior to that of the principal clause the Past Perfect of the Indicative Mood is used.
e.g. Auntie, I wish I had not done it.
The analytical subjunctive with the mood auxiliary would (for all persons) is also used in object clauses the verb to wish . This form is used only in sentences referring to the present or future; it is possible only if the subject of the principle clause is not the same as the subject of the object clause. It is chiefly used in sentences expressing request or annoyance.
e.g. I wish you would stay with me for a while.
b) The Subjunctive Mood is used in object clauses introduced by the
conjunction lest if in the principal clause the predicate is expressed by a verb denoting fear.
e.g. She fears lest she should be blamed.
After verbs denoting fear object clauses are often introduced by the conjunction that, in which case the Indicative Mood is used often with the modal verb may (might).
e.g. She fears that she will (would) be blamed.
c) The Subjunctive Mood is used in object clauses when we find verbs
and Word-groups denoting order, suggestion, advice, desire, etc. in the principal clause. The analytical subjunctive with the mood auxiliary should (for all persons) is used.
e.g. Mr. Micawber was very anxious that I should stay to dinner.
· The Subjunctive Mood is used in attributive appositive clauses modifying the nouns wish, suggestion, aim, idea, etc. The analytical subjunctive with the mood auxiliary should (for all persons) is used.
e.g. His wish that everybody should take part in the work was reasonable.
· The Subjunctive Mood is also used in attributive clauses modifying the noun time in the principal clause It is time, It is high time. In this case the Past Subjunctive of the verb to be is used; with other verbs the same meaning is expressed by the Past Indefinite of the Indicative Mood.
The analytical subjunctive with the mood auxiliary should is also possible, though less common.
· As has already been stated the Subjunctive Mood may be used to express an emotional attitude of the speaker to real facts. Here we always find the analytical subjunctive with the mood auxiliary should , which in this case is often called the ` emotional should'. If priority is expressed the Perfect Infinitive is used.
In this case the Subjunctive Mood is rendered in Russian by the Indicative Mood. The emotional should occurs in different kinds of subordinate clauses; the principal clause in such cases contains:
a) An adjective expressing astonishment, incredulity, regret, joy, such as strange, wonderful, unnatural, impossible, fortunate, unfortunate, etc.
e.g. It is impossibl e that she should have said it.
b) A noun with the same meaning: wonder, pity, shame, etc.
e.g. He is such a charming man that it is quite a pity he should be so grave and so dull.
c) The principal clause may be of the following type: I am sorry, glad, pleased, vexed, etc.
e.g. I am sorry you should take such needless trouble.
· The Tenses of the Forms Expressing Unreality (Summary)
As can be seen from the above description, not all the forms of unreality can express tense distinctions. Thus the Subjunctive Mood and the modal phrases should (for all persons) + infinitive and would (for all persons) + infinitive have no tense distinctions. They are used only in certain types of subordinate clauses and generally show that the action of that clause follows the action of the principal clause, i.e. they express time relatively.
e.g. I suggest(ed) that he takes up the matter.
Since these forms have no tense distinctions the rules of the sequence of tenses are not observed here.
Tense distinctions are expressed only by the forms of the Conditional Mood (which has two tenses - Present and Past) and also by the use of the forms of the Past Indefinite and the Past Perfect.
The Present Conditional Mood and the form of the Past Indefinite (also the form were for all persons singular) serve to refer an action to the present or the future when they are used in complex sentences with a clause of condition (or a clause of concession introduced by even if or even though).
e.g. If I had time I should go on a short holiday.
The Past Conditional Mood and the form of the Past Perfect serve to refer an action to the past in the same kinds of clauses.
e.g. If I had had time I should have gone on a short holiday.
The Present Conditional Mood is also used with reference to the present or future in simple sentences with implied condition while the Past Conditional refers an action to the past.
e.g. It would not be possible to decide anything without him.
It would not have been possible to decide anything without him.
In all those cases the tenses are used absolutely, i.e. they refer an action directly to the present, the past or the future.
The same is true of the modal verb were + infinitive which is used only in if-clauses and refers an action of that clause to the future.
e.g. If everybody were to be brought up differently, would the world not change?
But when all those forms, which in the above described cases express time relations absolutely are used in other subordinate clauses, they become relative tenses, i.e. they express the time with regard to the action of the principal clause. The Present Conditional Mood and the form of the Past Indefinite indicate that the action of the subordinate clause is simultaneous with that of the principal clause or follows it.
e.g. They say it would be impossible to decide anything without him.
The Past Conditional Mood and the form of the Past Perfect show that the action of the subordinate clause precedes that of the principal clause.
e.g. They say it would have been impossible to decide anything without him.
It should be remembered that the tenses in sentences of unreal condition are also used relatively in reported speech.
e.g. He says that if he had time he would go on a short holiday.
As is seen from the examples, the rules of the sequence of tenses are not observed with any of the above mentioned forms expressing unreality.
It is different, however, when the forms can (may) + infinitive are used to express problematic actions. Can is found only in clauses of purpose, may - in clauses of purpose and-in object clauses after expressions of fear in the principal clause.
e.g. On Sundays we always go outing so that the children can spend the day in the open air.
The forms can (may) + infinitives are in the Indicative Mood here, so the rules of the sequence of tenses should be observed. The above forms express the time relatively - they show that the action of the subordinate clause follows that of the principal clause.
e.g. On Sundays we always went outing so that the children could spend the day in the open air.
3. The use of The Subjunctive Mood in the works of English and American
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