The problems of the Subjunctive Mood in English
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 authors
The 3d chapter is my practical investigation of the problem of the use of different forms of the Subjunctive Mood by English and American writers. For this purpose I chose the following stories included into the textbook by Merkulova which we studied during our 3 year, there are: «A Marriage of Convenience», «The Luncheon», «The Verger» by S. Maugham, «Jerusalem the Golden» by M. Drabble, «One Pair of Hands» by M. Dickens, «Shopping for One» by A. Cassidy, «A Start in Life» by A. Brookner, «The Lord of the Rings» by J.R.R. Tolkien as well as our home reading material «Love story» by Erick Segal.
All in all I have collected 62 examples on the use of the Subjunctive Mood in the above literature.
As far as the Conditional clauses are concerned they are represented by the following cases:
Refering to the Future – Present Tense
e.g. If I were a sentimentalist, and cared enough about Harvard to hang a photograph on the wall, it would not be of Winthrop House, or Mem Church, but of Dillon. Dillon Field House.
Refering to the Past Tense
e.g. If you were to tell any of a dozen girls at Tower Court, Wellesley, that Oliver Barrett IV had been a young lady daily for three weeks and had not slept with her, they would surely have laughed and severely questioned the femininity of the girl involved.
Refering to the mixed type
e.g. If I did not want to marry, do you imagine that I should have spent three days reading love letters from women I have never set eyes on?
There are also examples when the unreal condition is expressed with the help of inversion:
e.g. What inducement would there be for her to give up her accustomed life to accompany in exile a man of forty-nine who is by no means a beauty?
Some sentences show the use of the Subjunctive Mood introduced by as if, as though in adverbial clauses of comparison depicting the action both:
simultaneous with the principal clause:
e.g. It was as if her exigent temperament required immediate results.
prior to it:
e.g. Except white wine,» she proceeded as though I had not spoken.
It worth mentioning that the verb «to be» in found in two forms as «was»:
e.g. It’s not as if I was a bettin’ man.
and (what looks more Subjunctive) «were» for the person in singular:
e.g. The manager stared at him as though he were a prehistoric monster.
A number of examples are characteristic of emotional «should» usage to express surprise or indignation of the speaker about the real facts:
e.g. It’s real, but why in hell should I subject it to some arbitrary test?
Very few are sentences with the verb «wish»:
e.g. I wish I coulda seen it.
No examples were found on the use of the Subjunctive Mood in adverbial clauses of concession; attribute clauses which modify the noun of the principal clause «time» and adverbial clauses of purpose.
Conclusion
Having learned points of views of different grammarians about the Subjunctive Mood, and also about its usage, I can say that this problem is really difficult and needs solving.
Nevertheless, the problem of the Subjunctive Mood in English is really interesting. It is discussed by a lot of linguists not only of England, but Russia, Germany and other countries.
Doing my work, I found out, that English and Russian grammarians see the problem of the Subjunctive Mood in a different way. Different linguists present various quantities of Moods and give them different names.
So, I’ve managed to get acquainted with different theories on the problem of the Subjunctive Mood definition, to consider the main cases of its usage and to learn that the same verbal mood phenomena can be treated differently depending on the basic point in understanding what the Subjunctive Mood is. All these theories only prove the fact that the language is the reflection of variety of forms of human life which is manifested in the saying: so many men, so many minds.
So, before starting to collect the material on the use of the Subjunctive Mood in the works of English and American writers for chapter 3 I had expected there would be quite a lot of examples for some reasons: firstly, because it is fiction, secondly, there are some but not one author, I was going to analyze the works of with their own peculiarities in writing: their own lexical and stylistic devices, their own vocabulary. But the number of the examples I have found came as a surprise to me as it did not meet my expectations.
As it turned out the majority of authors prefer using different forms of the conditional clauses, they make 72,6%.
The second place belongs to the quantity of the Subjunctive Mood forms introduced by the conjunction as if /as though in adverbial clauses of comparison and manner, they make 14,5%.
The sentences to express people’s emotions with «why should» occupy the 3d place, they constitute 8%.
The 4th place 3% that is taken by the sentences where the Subjunctive Mood is introduced by the verb «wish».
And the last (but not least in importance) place – 1,6% belongs to subject clauses inserting the Subjunctive Mood according to the formula:
It be A….
Graphically I can show it in the following way:
The use of the Subjunctive Mood in the works of English and American authors:
It should be understood that I do not claim that the results obtained by us are embracing all the English and American literature, but I can express an idea that they may be characteristic of it.
The authors can very well do with the Indicative Mood and sometimes Imperative in their creative activities not using supposition, wishes, sorrow and other emotional shades of meaning so much, as I had first expected. May be it is due to the fact that the stories I considered for investigation are based on modern life reality.
It is not necessary to say that our contemporary life is deprived of that romantic touch of sentimentality which can be expressed with the help of the Subjunctive Mood. But I do hope that the forms of the Subjunctive Mood which I discovered in the works of modern English and American writers will be of interest to our students.
As far as my interest of this diploma paper is concerned I am guided by the words of Pascal who said: «People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they themselves have discovered than by those which have come into the minds of others».
Bibliography
Е.А. Корнеева «Пособие по морфологии английского языка» Москва, «Высшая школа» 1974
Л.Л. Иофик, Л.П. Чахоян «Хрестоматия по теоретической грамматике английского языка» Санкт – Петербург, «Просвещение» 1972
Е.М. Гордон, И.П. Крылова «Грамматика современного английского языка» Москва, «Высшая школа» 1974
Б.А. Ильиш «Строй современного английского языка» Санкт-Петербург, «Просвещение» 1971
В. Каушанская «Грамматика английского языка» Санкт-Петербург, «Просвещение» 1973
Л.С. Бархударов «Очерки по морфологии современного английского языка» Москва, «Высшая школа» 1975
H. Sweet «A new English grammar» Oxford, 1988
G.O. Curme «A Grammar of the English Language» London – New-York, 1931
H. Whitehall «Structural Essential of English» New-York, 1956
O. Jespersen «The philosophy of Grammar», London, 1935 «A modern English Grammar» (Part IV), Heidelberg, 1931
В. Виноградов «Русский язык» Москва, 1947
Erick Segal «Love story»
M. Drabble «Jerusalem the Golden»
M. Dickens «One Pair of Hands»
A. Cassidy «Shopping for One»
A. Brookner «A Start in Life»
J.R.R. Tolkien «The Lord of the Rings»
Yelena M. Merkulova «English Reading, writing and conversation» St. Petersburg «SOYUZ» 2004