Subjunctive[edit]
Main article: Subjunctive mood
E.g.: "If I loved you..." / "May I love you"
The subjunctive mood, sometimes called conjunctive mood, has several uses in dependent clauses. Examples include discussing hypothetical or unlikely events, expressing opinions or emotions, or making polite requests (the exact scope is language-specific). A subjunctive mood exists in English, but it often is not obligatory. Example: "I suggested that Paul eat an apple", Paul is not in fact eating an apple. Contrast this with the sentence "Paul eats an apple", where the verb "to eat" is in the present tense, indicative mood. Another way, especially in British English, of expressing this might be "I suggested that Paul should eat an apple", derived from "Paul should eat an apple."
Other uses of the subjunctive in English, as in "And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass..." (KJV Leviticus 5:7), have become archaic. Statements such as "I shall ensure that he leave immediately" often sound overly formal, and often have been supplanted by constructions with the indicative, such as "I'll make sure [that] he leaves immediately".
The subjunctive mood figures prominently in the grammar of the Romance languages, which require this mood for certain types of dependent clauses. This point commonly causes difficulty for English speakers learning these languages.
In certain other languages, the dubitative or the conditional moods may be employed instead of the subjunctive in referring to doubtful or unlikely events (see the main article).
Conditional[edit]
Main article: Conditional mood
E.g.: "I would love you."
The conditional mood (abbreviated cond) is used to speak of an event whose realization is dependent upon another condition, particularly, but not exclusively, in conditional sentences. In Modern English, it is a periphrastic construction, with the form would + infinitive, e.g. I would buy. In other languages, such as Spanish or French, verbs have a specific conditional inflection. This applies also to some verbs in German, in which the conditional mood is conventionally called Konjunktiv II, differing from Konjunktiv I. Thus, the conditional version of "John eats if he is hungry" is:
John would eat if he were hungry, in English;
Johannes äße, wenn er Hunger hätte, in German;
Jean mangerait s'il avait faim, in French;
Juan comería si tuviera hambre, in Spanish.
Giovanni mangerebbe se avesse fame, in Italian;
Johannes würde essen, wenn er Hunger hätte is also acceptable in German.
In the Romance languages, the conditional form is used primarily in the apodosis (main clause) of conditional clauses, and in a few set phrases where it expresses courtesy or doubt. The main verb in the protasis (dependent clause) is either in the subjunctive or in the indicative mood. However, this is not a universal trait: among others in German (as above) and in Finnish the conditional mood is used in both the apodosis and the protasis. A further example is the sentence "I would buy a house if I earned a lot of money", where in Finnish both clauses have the conditional marker -isi-: Ostaisin talon, jos ansaitsisin paljon rahaa. In Polish the conditional marker -by also appears twice: Kupiłbym dom, gdybym zarabiał dużo pieniędzy. Because English is used as a lingua franca, a similar kind of doubling of the word would is a fairly common way to misuse an English language construction.
In English, too, the would + infinitive construct can be employed in main clauses, with a subjunctive sense: "If you would only tell me what is troubling you, I might be able to help".
Optative[edit]
Main article: Optative mood
The optative mood expresses hopes, wishes or commands and has other uses that may overlap with the subjunctive mood. Few languages have an optative as a distinct mood; some that do are Albanian, Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Finnish, as well as Avestan.
In Finnish, the mood may be called an "archaic" or "formal imperative", even if it has other uses; nevertheless, it does express formality at least. For example, the ninth Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins with Älköön ketään pidätettäkö mielivaltaisesti, "Not anyone shall be arrested arbitrarily", where älköön pidätettäkö "shall not be arrested" is the imperative of ei pidätetä "is not arrested". Also, using the conditional mood -isi- in conjunction with the clitic -pa yields an optative meaning, e.g. olisinpa "if I only were". Here, it is evident that the wish is not, and probably will not be fulfilled.
In Sanskrit, the optative is formed by adding the secondary endings to the verb stem. The optative, as other moods, is found in active voice and middle voice. Examples: bhares"may you bear" (active) and bharethaas "may you bear [for yourself]" (middle). The optative may not only express wishes, requests and commands, but also possibilities, e.g.kadaacid goshabdena budhyeta "he might perhaps wake up due to the bellowing of cows".,[1] doubt and uncertainty, e.g. katham vidyaam Nalam "how would I be able to recognize Nala?" The optative may further be used instead of a conditional mood.
17 Structural classifications of simple sentences.
The sentence is the immediate integral unit of speech built up words according to a definite syntactic pattern and distinguished by a contextually relevant communicative purpose.
From the point of view of their structure sentences can be divided into: two-membered (double-nucleus); one-membered (single-nucleus); complete; incomplete; simple; composite (compound, complex).
Simple sentences. Two-membered sentence contains two principle parts – the subject and the predicate. (Fleur had established immediate contact with an architect).
A two-membered sentence can be complete and incomplete. It is complete when it has a subject and a predicate (Young John could not help smiling). It is incomplete when one of the principal parts or both of them are missing, but can be easily understood from the context. Such sentences are called elliptical and they are mostly used in colloquial speech and especially in dialogue (Where were you yesterday? At the cinema).
One-membered sentence have only one principal part (Dusk – of a summer night).
Simple sentences, both two-membered and one-membered can be unextended and extended. A sentence consisting only of the primary or principle parts is called an unextended sentence. She is a student. Birds fly. Winter!
An extended sentence is a sentence consisting of the subject, predicate and one or more secondary parts (objects, attributes, adverbial modifiers). The two native woman stole furtive glances at Sarie.
Composite sentence is formed by two or more predicative groups. Being a polypredicative construction, it expresses a complicated thought reflecting two or more elementary situational events.
Each predicative unit in a composite sentence makes up a clause in it that corresponds to a separate sentence as a part of a contextual sequence.
Composite sentence displays two principal types of the connection of clauses – subordination and coordination.
According to the traditional view, all composite sentences are to be classed into:
compound sentences (coordinating their clauses),
complex (subordinating their clauses).
A compound sentence is a sentence which consists of two or more clauses coordinated with each other. In a compound sentence the clauses may be connected:
1) syndetically, i.e. by means of coordinating conjunctions (and, or, else, but, etc.) or conjunctive adverbs (otherwise, however, nevertheless, yet, still, therefore, etc.)
E.g. The darkness was thinning, but the street was still dimly lighted.
2) asyndetically, i.e. without a conjunction or conjunctive adverb.
E.g. The rain fell softly, the house was quiet.
The main semantic relations between the clauses connected coordinativety are copulative, adversative, disjunctive, casual, consequental, resultative.
A complex sentence is a polypredicative construction built up on the principle of subordination. Clauses in a complex sentence may be linked in two ways:
1) Syndetically, i.e. by means of subordinating conjunctions or connectives.
E.g. more and more, she became convinced that some misfortune had overtaken Paul.
2) Asyndetically, i.e. without a conjunction or connective.
E.g. I wish you had come earlier.
A subordinate clause may follow, interrupt or precede the principal clause.
According to the grammatical function subordinate clauses can be divided into: subject, predicative, object and adverbial (of time, place, purpose, cause, condition, concession, result, manner, comparison)
