Moods

According to Randolph Quirk & Sidney Greenbaum (1973) in their books A Concise Grammar of Contemporary English (page 26-58) they have only three moods not including interrogative moods. A. The indicative mood states a fact, asks a question, or exclaims or indicative mood 'indicates;' that is, it conveys to the listener/reader that the speaker/writer is making a statement Examples Roslan arrives this morning (statement / arrives is indicative mood) Will Roslan arrive this morning? (question / will arrive is indicative mood) Roslan may arrive this morning (statement / may arrive is indicative mood) How wonderfull Roslan looks! (exclamation / looks is indicative mood)

B. The imperative mood gives a command. The subject is always "you" understood. Examples Eat your spinach (command / subject = you, understood / Eat is imperative mood) Please be good to the babysitter (command / subject = you understood / be is imperative mood)

C. The subjunctive mood occurs in two instances: 1. The sentence indicates a situation contrary to fact. Examples

I wouldnt do that if I were you. (but Im not you / were is subjunctive mood)

shows a wish, desire, or demand in a nominal clause beginning with that following verbs such as desire, demand, request, suggest

Examples I demand that you be here on time (that clause follows demand / be is subjunctive mood) She suggested that he see a dentist immediately (that clause follows suggested / see is subjunctive mood)

Addition : The interrogative mood signals the speakers' desire for information, that they are asking a question, that they are 'interrogating' the listeners. The interrogative is marked by starting a clause with an auxiliary verb or an interrogative pronoun Example Can Liz do that? What will Liz do? According to

Geoffrey N. Leech, Meaning and the English Verb (2nd edition), Longman. George Yule, Explaining English Grammar, OUP (Chapter 3 'Tense and Aspect')

Tense
1. Present and past tense The English verbs are inflected for two tenses: present (walk(s)) and past (walked). In other words, tense is indicated by morphological marking: zero/-s for present tense and -ed for regular past tense. Tense is not necessarily straightforwardly related to what TIME the event represented by the verb takes place. For instance, the simple present tense can be used to refer to various times, as it is used for

events which happen regularly or habitually: He smokes, drinks, betrays people and has no guilt whatsoever.

timeless truths: The sun rises in the east. present events: I declare the meeting open. Bremner passes the ball to Lorimer. historic present, especially in literary English but also in oral narrative. It recalls or recounts the past as vividly as if it were present: He just walks into the room and sits down in front of the fire without saying a word to anyone.

events that are expected to happen in the future: When he returns to Manhattan 1000 years later, it has been destroyed and rebuilt three times.

2. What about time then? We can, of course, situate events in time, but this is not only done by means of grammatical tense. The two tenses, past and present, combine with the aspects discussed below to indicate how the event is viewed in relation to time. In the time-line perspective, we can talk about the past, present and future time. To take an example, English, unlike many other languages, does not have a separate verb form for the

future. Consequently, there is no future tense in English, even though there are, of course, many different ways in which we can talk about the future time:

The parcel will arrive tomorrow. (modal auxiliary will) The parcel is going to arrive tomorrow. (be going to) The parcel is arriving tomorrow. (present progressive) The parcel arrives tomorrow. (simple present) The parcel will be arriving tomorrow. (modal auxiliary will + progressive aspect)

Aspect
1. Grammatical aspect There are two grammatically marked aspects in English:

progressive aspect (be+-ing) perfective aspect (have+past participle).

The situation may be represented as fixed or changing, it may be treated as lasting for only a moment or having duration, and it can be viewed as complete or as ongoing. These are aspectual distinctions. Consider the meaning of the following sentences with the simple forms as opposed to the progressive ones:

I raise my arm! (event) / I'm raising my arm. (duration) My watch works perfectly. (permanent state) / My watch is working perfectly. (temporary state)

The man drowned.(complete) / The man was drowning (but I jumped into the water and saved him.)

When we arrived she made some coffee. (two events following one another) / When we arrived she was making some coffee. (ongoing action at the time when something else happened)

Consider the meaning of the following sentences with the simple form as opposed to the perfect(ive) form:

We lived in London for two months in 1986. (complete) / We have lived in London since last September (and still do.)

2. Lexical aspect In addition to the grammatical marking of the aspect, the lexical meaning of the verb may convey aspectual meaning. This is called lexical aspect. The verbs can be divided as follows according to their aspectual meaning: I. Stative verbs

Cognition verbs: believe, hate, know, like, enjoy, understand, want Relations verbs: be, belong, contain, have, own, resemble Sensory perception : smell, see, hear taste, feel Emotions, attitude and opinions : like, love, hate, dislike, want, desire, need etc Description : be, resemble, sound appear, seem, look

(stative verbs do not involve change. They depict a stable situation that is assumed to last more or less indefinitely. Often in the categories the verb may appear more than one categories depend on their meaning Grammar book) II. Dynamic verbs

Punctual verbs Durative verbs

Acts: hit, jump, eat, kick, stab, strike, throw, cough Activities: eat, run, swim, walk, work, write / Processes: become,

change, flow, grow, harden, learn

The verbs denoting stative concepts tend not to be used with progressive forms. After buying a house, English speakers are not likely to tell people, I'm having a house now, because that would suggest a process rather than a fixed state. The progressive aspect used with a stative verb often signifies a temporary state: You're being foolish. I'm having a bad day. The verbs that typically signify punctual concepts, describing momentary acts, have a slightly different meaning in the progressive form: He's kicking the box, She's coughing. These are interpreted as repeated acts, not as single acts. Dynamic verbs used in the progressive aspect typically signify ongoing activity. The perfective aspect used with stative verbs typically signify pre-existing states (that may continue): He has believed in Allah all his life. We have known Fred for many years. I have been ill. The perfective aspect used with dynamic verbs, on the other hand, often indicate completed actions: We have baked the cake (would you like to taste it). I have written some notes (you can read them here). Statistically, verb phrases marked for aspect are in the minority (only 10% of all the verbs in the corpus used for the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English); in the same corpus perfect(ive) aspect was slightly more common than the progressive aspect. According to The Grammar Book, Verbs can be divided into four categories based on their inherent lexical aspect (Vendler, 1967) Activity run walk swim live Accomplishments paint (a picture) make (a chair) build (a house) write (a novel) Achievement (punctual) recognize (something) realize (something) lose (something) find (something) have contain seem want State

Carol Harris, Brian McLaughlin, Melissa Still Department of Applied Linguistics & ESL Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia USA

Modals
What is a modal? What is modality? How do we form modals? And what do modals mean? These are the questions that many ESL students ask when trying to learn modals. Modals are difficult for ESL students to grasp because a modal and modality are rarely explained to an ESL student, the form of modals does not follow the conventional rules of grammar, and there are so many meanings of modals that students often get confused about which modal to choose. According to Longman's Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics (1992), modal is defined as any of the auxiliary verbs which indicate attitudes of the speaker/writer towards the state or event expressed by another verb, i.e. which indicate different types of modality. Although there are two forms of modals, the modal auxiliary verbs and the semi-modals, we will be focusing on the nine modal auxiliary verbs in this paper. The nine modal auxiliary verbs are: can, could, may, might, shall, should, must, will, and would. 1. Form Native speakers believe the formation of modals is relatively straightforward. Modals have only one basic form. They are formed by modal + simple present verb. An important fact to note about models is that there is no third person singular form; therefore, formation rules are relatively easy to learn. Rule modal + simple present verb Example The trapeze artists can perform many stunts.

Modals are not marked for tense1 and as a result the formation of the modal + simple present verb stays the same. Time indicators usually found with tense changes are marked by time expressions (i.e. ago, since, at 8:00, etc.). Rule modal + simple present verb Example The trapeze artists can perform many stunts.

modal + simple present verb + time The trapeze artists performed at 3:00, and they will indicator perform again at 8:00.

Another example of this can be seen with the following sentences: Rule simple present verb simple past verb Example Elephants eat a lot of peanuts everyday. The elephants ate a lot of peanuts today. The elephants would eat peanuts all day if the trainers allowed it.

modal + simple present verb

Modals change the way verbs are formed within the verb phrase. As mentioned above, modals are not marked for tense, so they take the place of tense within the whole verb phrase. VP --> {modal}/{tense} + (perfect) + (progressive) + verb Using this verb phrase rule, we can see how modal expressions are formed using different verb patterns. Rule Example

modal + simple present verb modal + perfect + verb modal + progressive + verb modal + perfect + progressive + verb

The seals must eat a lot of fish during a performance. The seals must have eaten all the fish while I was gone. I must be losing my mind, I just found a full bucket of fish. I must have been daydreaming, I just found two more buckets of fish.

Negative Modals form the negative by inserting not (or another negative word) between the modal and the main verb. VP -+ {modal}/{tense} + not/n't2 + (perfect) + (progressive) + verb Using this verb phrase rule, we can see how negative modal expressions are formed using different verb patterns. Rule modal + not/n't + simple present verb modal + not/n't + perfect + verb modal + not/n't + progressive + verb modal + not/n't + perfect + progressive + verb Example

The seals must not eat a lot of fish during a performance.

The seals must not have eaten all the fish while I was gone. I must not be losing my mind - maybe my eyesight; I just found a full bucket of fish. I must not have been daydreaming because two buckets full of fish are missing.

Interrogative Modal verb phrases form questions by inversion. Below is an example of the structure of a sentence with a modal and the structure of a question with a modal. S + [{ modal} + (not /n't) + (perfect) + (progressive) + verb] + (O/C) + (A). (Q) + [{modal } + (n't)] + S + [(not) + (perfect) + (progressive) + verb] + (O/C) + (A)?

When forming a question, it is important to remember that not is not always necessary. When it is used, it remains next to the main verb; however, if n't is used, it is fronted with the modal. There are three types of questions where modals are used; they are neutral questions, negative questions, and question-word questions. See below for examples of the question structure. (Q) + [{modal} + (n't) ] + S + [(not) + verb ] + (o/c) + (A) ? Question Type neutral Example Should you give the elephants those peanuts? Should you not give the elephants those peanuts? Shouldn't you give the elephants those peanuts? What should you give the elephants as a treat?

not/n't

question-word

(Q) + [{modal} + (n't) ] + S + [(not) + (perfect) + verb ] + (o/c) + (A) ? Question Type neutral Example Would you have given the monkeys those bananas? Would you not have given the monkeys those bananas? not/n't Wouldn't you have given the monkeys those bananas?

question-word

What would you have given the monkeys after the performance?

(Q) + [{modal) + (n't)] + S + [(not) + (progressive) + verb] + (O/C) + (A)? Question Type neutral Example While I am performing, could you be preparing my next costume? While I am performing, could you not be getting ready for our act? While I am performing, couldn't you be getting ready for our act? What could you be doing while I am performing?

not/n't

question-word

(Q) + [(modal) + (n't)] + S + [(not) + (perfect) + (progressive) + verb] + (O/C) + (A)? Question type neutral Example Will you have been training for the performance when I arrive tomorrow? Will you not have been training for the performance when I arrive tomorrow? not/n't Won't you have been training for the performance when I arrive tomorrow? question-word What will you have been training for when I arrive tomorrow?

Problems with Formation There are a few problems that ESL students have with the formation of modals. First, when combining a modal auxiliary with a simple present verb, to is not necessary. * The elephants should to receive peanuts after performances. The elephants should receive peanuts after performances. Second, subject-verb agreement does not apply to modals.

* The acrobat can jumps very high. The acrobat can jumps very high. Third, two modals cannot be used together in the same verb phrase; however, a modal plus a semi-modal can be used together. * After a lot of practice, the trapeze artist will can fly through the air. After a lot of practice, the trapeze artist will be able softly through the air. These problems are not insurmountable for ESL students; however, they are issues that need to be addressed when discussing the English modal system. A more difficult issue to discuss is the meaning of modals in English. 2. Meaning The meanings of the modal auxiliaries are difficult for ESL students to understand. Many students are not aware of the subtle shades of meaning that are found within the meaning of a modal; for example, there are many layers to the meaning of can. There are two ways to teach the meanings of the modal auxiliaries. The most common way to teach modals is as a list. Modals, when taught as a list, are presented like regular vocabulary which does not present the various ways each modal can be used. A better way to teach modals is as a system. We hope to illustrate, in this section, the reasons for using a system method versus a list method. Below is a list of definitions for the modals. Instead of just giving the definition and an example, we also chose to include the level (root or epistemic) where each definition could be found. Modals as a List (adapted from Byrd/Benson) Modal Traditional definitions ability Present/Future Past Level

can

I can juggle.

I could juggle

Existential/Epistemic

when I was young. Can I look at your costumes. You can look at my costumes. You can pet the lion if you want. I could juggle when I was young. Could you hold this for me? I could be up there right now. May I pet the lion? Yes, you may pet the lion. The acrobats may have performed already. The elephants might have performed, too. Epistemic Epistemic I could have been juggling now.

can

request

Root

can

permission

Root

can

possibility

Root

can

past ability

Existential/Epistemic

could request

Root

could possibility

Epistemic

may

request(formal)

Root

may

permission(formal)

Root

may

probability

The trapeze artist may be tired after the show.

might slight probability

The clown might be tired, too.

shall

polite question

Shall we go say hello to the crown? Ladies and gentlemen,

Root

shall

formal future

the circus shall begin shortly. Jugglers should practice everyday. The circus should begin in a minute. I should have tried juggling. They should have started by now. The children had to leave before the clowns began. They must be friends. They must have known each other for a long time.

should advice

Root

should expectation

Root

must

necessity

Children must be careful around lions.

Epistemic

The lion does not hurt his must logical deduction trainer. They must have known each other for a long time.

Epistemic

will

intention or promise future time certainty

We will see the seals today. We will see them by 9:30. When I was young,

Epistemic

will

Epistemic

would past time habit

we would go to the Existential/Epistemic circus.

would conditional3

I were you, I would be careful around the lions. Would you mind if I

would polite question

borrow your make up today? I would rather have juggled than done trapeze stunts.

Root

would preference

I would rather juggle than do trapeze stunts.

Root

On the surface, the information presented above appears to be sufficient for dealing with the modals; however, it is very unlikely that an ESL student will memorize every meaning and weigh each meaning before picking a modal. Consequently, the student will learn one or two meanings for each modal and use those meanings of the modals exclusively. Thus, it is important to teach modals as a system. This is illustrated below. As shown above, memorizing the list of modals, without understanding the essence of modals as a system, is a futile effort. A specific meaning, that cannot be conveyed in a list, is expressed by the modal that is chosen. The modal that is chosen reveals the values and attitudes of the person speaking. (Byrd, 1995) Modals, when teaching them in a system, follow a pattern going from weak to strong (please see examples below). It is more efficient to teach modals by placing the modals in context (e.g. making guesses, giving advice, permission, request, etc.). The best way to show this is to give examples followed by class discussion. Making Guesses weak A trapeze artist is Walking on the high wire for the first time, two friends are watching.

1. Friend 1: Do you think he could fall? 2. Friend 2: He may fall, but I doubt it. The artist starts to wobble on the wire. strong 3. Friend 2: 1 take that back, he might fall. 4. Friend 1: He will fall if he doesn't stop wobbling. Giving Advice weak A person wants to go to the circus and is talking to a friend who has already been to the circus. I . Friend 1: You can go to the circus on either Tuesday night or Wednesday night. 2. Friend 1: You should go on Tuesday night because there is a special show with the lions. 3. Friend 1: You must go on Tuesday because you can pet the lions after the show. 4. Friend 2: I will go on Tuesday night. strong When teaching modals, it is important to view them as a system of words where the meaning can change depending on the situation. Organizing modals in these types of systems helps to clarify how they are inter-related and should be a standard approach to teaching for ESL teachers.

Phrase structure rules

sang ate the cake ate the cake hungrily Sang a song in the shower fell into the pond slowly Phrase structure rules for VPs VP V (NP) (PP) (Adv) V V NP V NP Adv V NP Pp V PP Adv

Or VP cop NP VP cop AP VP cop PP

Voice
Passive voice verbs are used in writing much more often than in speech, and they are used in some types of writing much more often than in others. Passives are used more in journalism (newspapers, magazines) than in fiction (novels, stories), but most journalists and fiction writers use far more active than passive sentences. However, passives are very common in all types of scientific and technical writing. Scientific articles often contain more passive than active sentences. You should not use passive voice verbs unless you have a good reason. A. Relationship between active and passive: 1. The object of the active verb is the subject of the passive verb (English in the example sentences below). Therefore, verbs which cannot be followed by objects (intransitive verbs) cannot be used in passive voice. These are some common intransitive verbs: appear, arrive, come, cry, die, go, happen, occur, rain, sleep, stay, walk. These verbs cannot be used in passive voice. 2. The passive verb always contains a form of the auxiliary verb be. The form of be in the passive verb phrase corresponds to the form of the main verb in the active verb phrase (see the underlined words in the example sentences below). That is, if the active main verb is simple present tense, then a simple present tense form of be is used in the passive verb phrase; if the active main verb is -ING, then the -ING form of be is used in the passive verb phrase; and so on. 3. The main verb in a passive predicate verb phrase is always the participle form of the verb. 4. Some examples of active and passive sentences: ACTIVE: They speak English. PASSIVE: English is spoken. ACTIVE: They spoke English. PASSIVE: English was spoken.

ACTIVE: They will speak English. PASSIVE: English will be spoken. ACTIVE: They are going to speak English. PASSIVE: English is going to be spoken. ACTIVE: They are speaking English. PASSIVE: English is being spoken. ACTIVE: They were speaking English. PASSIVE: English was being spoken. ACTIVE: They have spoken English. PASSIVE: English has been spoken. ACTIVE: They had spoken English. PASSIVE: English had been spoken. ACTIVE: They will have spoken English. PASSIVE: English will have been spoken. 5. Perfect progressive verb forms are generally used in active voice only. That is, these are good English sentences: ACTIVE: They have been speaking English. ACTIVE: They had been speaking English. ACTIVE: They will have been speaking English. But sentences like these are rarely used: PASSIVE: English has been being spoken. PASSIVE: English had been being spoken. PASSIVE: English will have been being spoken.

B. Most passive sentences do not contain an agent; all active sentences contain an agent. 1. An agent is the subject of the active verb. In the example sentences above, the agent is they in all the active sentences; the passive sentences do not contain an agent. 2. When a passive sentence contains an agent, it is in a prepositional phrase following the verb. For example: English is spoken by them. In the following sentences, the noun teachers is the agent in both sentences. Teachers is also the subject of the active verb, but exams is the subject of the passive verb. ACTIVE: Teachers prepare exams. PASSIVE: Exams are prepared by teachers.

C. You should not use passive voice unless you have a good reason. Here are some good reasons for using passive voice: 1. Passive voice is often used when the agent (the doer of an action; the subject of an active verb) is obvious, unknown, or unnecessary: Oranges are grown in California. Toyotas are made in Japan. Her purse was stolen. 2. Passive voice is often used when the agent is known, but the speaker/writer doesnt want to mention it: She was given bad advice. A mistake has been made.

3. Passive voice is often used when the agent is very general such as people or somebody. English is spoken here. The door should be locked. 4. Passive voice is often used when the speaker/writer wants to emphasize a result: Several thousand people were killed by the earthquake. 5. Passive voice is often used when the speaker/writer wants to keep the same subject for two or more verbs but this would not be possible if both verbs were the same voice (active or passive). For example, in a conversation about George, a speaker would probably use sentence a below rather than sentence b (both sentences are correct). a. George had several interviews before he was hired by a software company. b. George had several interviews before a software company hired him.

Conclusion:

References: Geoffrey N. Leech, Meaning and the English Verb (2nd edition), Longman. George Yule, Explaining English Grammar, OUP (Chapter 3 'Tense and Aspect') Randolph Quirk & Sidney Greenbaum (1973) in their books A Concise Grammar of Contemporary English (page 26-58)

C. Harris, B. McLaughlin, M. Still Department of Applied Linguistics & ESL Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia USA

The Grammar book