Курсовая работа: The problems of the Subjunctive Mood in English
Should come (should for all persons)
may come (?)
came, had come (same as past or past perfect indicative), used in subordinate clauses
should come (1st person)
would come (2nd and 3rd person)
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:
Meaning | Means of expression |
|
Inducement Possibility Unreal condition Unlikely condition Consequence of unreal condition Wish or purpose |
come (!) (no ending, no auxiliary, and usually without subject) (he) come (no ending in any persons, no auxiliary) came, had come Should come ( for all persons) should come (1st person) would come (2nd and 3rd person) may come (?) |
In this way we should obtain different system, comprising six moods, with the following meanings:
1. Inducement
2. Possibility
3. Unreal condition
4. Unlikely condition
5. Consequence of unreal condition
6. Wish or purpose
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.