The grammatical category of mood

The system of the English verb is the most complicated system of the language. Verbs are subdivided into numerous subclasses (modal verbs, auxiliary verbs, verbs of saying, of sense perception, transitive and in transitive, etc). Grammatically the verb is the most difficult part of speech, as it has many grammatical categories: the category of tense, aspect, voice, mood, correlation, etc. That is why some grammarians say: “To know the English verb is to know English grammar”. The verb is characterized by several grammatical categories.

The category of mood is an a morphological category of the verb denoting the relation of the action denoted by the predicate to objective reality as stated by the speaker. It is one of the most important means of expressing the wider category of modality which can also be expressed by modal verbs (can, may, must, etc.) and modal words (maybe, perhaps, probably, evidently, etc.)

Presumably, (according to Prof. O. I. Smirnitsky) in Modem English there exist two the so-called “direct" moods (the Indicative and the Imperative mood) and four the so-called oblique (=indirect) moods Subjunctive I, Subjunctive II, the Suppositional and the Conditional mood (Smirnitsky, 1950). When using the Indicative mood the speaker presents the action of the predicate as really taking (or not taking) place, as a real fact; when he uses the Imperative mood form he directly induces the listerner(s) to perform the action required by him, but when he uses a form of an oblique mood he presents the action not as a real fact but only as desirable, necessary, possible, imaginary, etc. E.g.: 1. I wish he came to me to morrow (a desirable action); 2. It is necessary (that) you should go there immediately (the necessity of an action is staled); 3. If I were sixteen now I should (would) be happy (an imaginary state), etc.

The problem of the number of moods in Modem English is the most controversial and vexed problem of the present day English theoretical grammar A great variety of views is observed in this field and notonly as of the number of moods but also as to their meaning and classification. The polar points of view are those of the German grammarian M. Deutchbein and the Russian linguist V. Y. Plotkin.

M. Deutchbein found 16 moods in Modem English, while V. Y. Plotkin denies the existence of any morphological category of mood in Modem English I. B. Khlebnikova finds only three oblique moods forms in English: the Conditional mood (should go, would go), the Subjunctive mood which includes all the synthetic oblique moods forms and, at last, the oblique mood ions which do not constitute one integral system (e.g.: a) However it might be…; b) May all your dreams come true!; c)...for fear that it would cause trouble. (Khlebnikova, 1958). Prof. L. S. Barkhudarov denied the existence of morphologically expressed oblique moods in Modem English on the assumption that the traditional oblique moods auxiliaries “should” and “would'' are actually not mood auxiliary verbs but remain modal verbs since they still preserve part of their original modal meanings of obligation (should) and volition (would) and they may be used in free word combinations like any other full-fleded verbs. (Cf: It is necessary that you should go there now = You should go there not.(in the second example we observe a free modal word combination). As far as the forms like “If I knew about it now,..." or: “ If I had known about it at that time..” are concerned L. S. Barkhudarov thinks them to remain forms of the Past indefinite and Past Perfect Indicative correspondingly but in a special contextual environment (Barkhudarov, 1975: 130).

Such a variety and controversy of views and opinions on the number and the very essence of the Modem English oblique moods is mainly caused by the fact of absence of direct correspondence between the form and meaning of the oblique mood forms; different grammatical forms may render the meaning and vice versa: e.g.; 1. It is necessary that you should there now (the Suppositional mood form) = It is necessary that you go there now (Subjunctive I); 2. a) It is necessary that he should go there now (the Suppositional mood) ≠ b) If I knew her address now I should go to her (the Conditional mood) ≠ c) You should go there now (a modal phrase). In the second group of examples the same grammatical form " should go ” has three different meanings. That is why depending upon what criterion: that of form or meaning a grammarian takes as a basis for his classification of moods he will arrive at different results. Evidently, M. Deutchbein took the criterion of form as a basis for his classification (16 moods) while A. I. Smirnitsky took into consideration both the form and meaning of the predicate.

As Prof. B.O. Ilyish rightly points out, the simplest view and the one to be preferred is that the Indicative mood forms in a special use (“If I knew...", “If he had, come yesterday... ”) or a modal phrase (“It’s necessary that you should come here now ”) are observed in such cases. (Ilyish, 1971:113)

28.Verb: Person

The categories of person and number must be considered in close connection with each other, since in language of the Indo-European family they are expressed simultaneously, i. e. a morpheme expressing person also expresses number.

The category of Person

The category of person in verbs is represented by the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, and it expresses the relation between the speaker, the person or persons addressed, and other persons and things. The 1st person, of course, expresses the speaker or a group of which the speaker makes a part; the 2nd person, the person or persons spoken to, and the 3rd, that person or thing (or those persons or things) which are neither the speaker nor the person(s) spoken to.

The expression of the category of person is essentially confined to the singular form of the verb in the present tense of the indicative mood and, besides, is very singularly presented in the future tense. As for the past tense, the person is alien to it.

In the present tense the expression of the category of person is divided into three peculiar subsystems.

The first subsystem includes the modal verbs that have no personal inflexions.

The second subsystem is made up by the unique verbal lexeme be.

The third subsystem presents just the regular, normal expression of person. From the formal point of view, this subsystem occupies the medial position between the first two: if the verb be is at least two-personal, the normal personal type of the verb conjugation is one-personal. Indeed, the personal mark is confined here to the third person singular -(e)s [-z, -s, -iz], the other two persons (the first and the second) remaining unmarked.

In the future tense oppositional use of shall — will specifically marking the first person. These distinctions are characteristic only of British English.

A trace of person distinction is presented in the past tense with the archaic form of the second person singular. The form is used but very occasionally, still it goes with the pronoun thou. This is what might be called "little whims of grammar".

Verb: Number expresses the quantity of the subjects (one or more than one).

We might build the following system of personal and numerical categories: 1st person singular— the speaker 2nd person singular—one person spoken to 3rd person singular— one person or thing (neither speaker nor spoken to) 1st person plural— the speaker and another person or other persons 2nd person plural— more than one person spoken to 3rd person plural— more than one person or —thing (neither speakers nor spoken to) However, this system does not hold good for the Modern Engl. verb, and this for two reasons, First, there is no distinction of persons in the plural number. Thus, the form live may, within the plural number, be connected with a subject of any person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd). Second, there is no distinction of numbers in the 1st or 2nd person. Thus, the form live in these persons may refer both to one and to more than one subject. In the Modern English verb is this: 3rd person singular — lives. All the rest — live.

The opposition lives || live, or, in general terms, stem + s / stem + Ø, expresses the relation: 3rd person singular / any person of both numbers except 3rd person singular. The -s-inflection in verbs conveys 4 meanings: 1) 3rd person, 2) singular number, 3) present tense, 4) indicative mood.

Some verbs do not fit into the system of person and number: the verb can (the verbs may, shall, and some others sharing some of its features) and the verb be.

The verb can, takes no -s-inflection parallel to such forms as lives, writes, takes, etc. Hence it follows that this verb has no category of person or number at all.

The verb be has a system of its own both in the present indicative and in the past. Its system in the present indicative is as follows: 1st person singular — am; 3rd person singular—is; 2nd person (without distinction of number) plural (without distinction of person)— are. In the past tense the system is: 1st and 3rd person singular— was 2nd person (without distinction of number) plural (without distinction of person) — were.

There are the forms of the type livest, takest, livedst, tookest. They are associated with the personal pronoun thou and are only used in religions and occasionally in poetical texts.

Synonymy in morphology.

Morphological synonymy reflects a variety of representations by different parts of speech for the same meaning, e.g. due to (adjective), thanks to (noun), because of (preposition), etc.

29.Transposition and neutralization of morphological forms.

Transpositions the use of a linguistic unit in an unusual environment or in the function that is not characteristic of it (He is a lion). In the sentence: He is coming tomorrow —the paradigmatic meaning of the continuous form is reduced and a new meaning appears – that of a future action. Transposition always results in the neutralization of a paradigmatic meaning. Transposition takes place when one of the members of the opposition is placed in contextual conditions uncommon for it, that is, the use of the form is stylistically marked. Transposition is based on the contrast between the members of the opposition, it may be defined as a contrastive use of the counter-member of the opposition. As a rule, it is the marked member of the opposition. e.g. He is always borrowing my pen. The present continuous form in the example stands in sharp contradiction with its regular grammatical meaning “action in progress at the present time”. The verbal categories of tense, aspect and temporal correlation are all subject to oppositional reduction.

Category of tense: The big Christmas sale starts next Monday. Your order will be sent to you immediately after we get a copy of your receipt. The two examples present cases of neutralization of the opposition “present vs. future”. Present forms “starts” and “get” refer to future actions. eg. I walked for a couple more minutes and then suddenly I see a fox running in my direction. In this example the present form “see” substitutes the past form “saw”. Present is used in the position of transposition of the opposition “present vs. past”. The stylistic purpose of this phenomenon known as “the historic present”.. The peculiarity of this case of transposition is that the weak member stands in the position of the strong member, which is not typical of transposition.

Category of aspect: There are several typical cases of oppositional reduction of the category of aspect. One is related to the division of verbs into limitive and unlimitive. e.g. The sun shone brightly.—neutralization of the opposition “continuous vs. non-continuous” (a process is implied). Neutralization is optional since the paradigmatically required form “was shining” can still be used. The neutralizer is the lexical meaning of the verb. As for transposition, continuous forms can be used transpositionally to denote habitual, recurrent actions in emphatic collocations. (e.g. He is always borrowing my pen). Category of temporal correlation is based on the privative-equipollent opposition of “perfect vs. non-perfect”. e.g. The court issued an arrest warrant after the police detained a suspect. The non-perfect form “detained” substitutes the paradigmatically required form “had detained”.

30. Synonymy in grammar: future action can be expressed with the help of the future indefinite, the present indefinite, or the present continuous form of the verb, as in We’ll fly tomorrow; We fly tomorrow; We are flying tomorrow

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