Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith.org Forums General Topics Q&A about words tenses
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
>>I would say "tense" or "subjunctive" refers to verb forms <<
Bingley, I wouldn't agree, although I'm open to persuasion!
I'd say a tense refers to a time relative to the here and now (past, present, future) and also to a 'length of time' of action (simple, continuous - this is what you called aspect way back in your first post). Tense is a way of translating time into verbal categories.
The form of a verb is more than its tense - it is a combination of tense, voice, mood and person (at least! There may be more I have forgotten.) 'You go', 'Do you go?' and 'Go!' are all second person present tense, but they are indicative, interrogative and imperative respectively, and they are all different forms.
'Person' of a verb clearly translates the 'doer' or subject into a verbal category.
'Voice' translates whether the subject is acting or being acted upon.
'Mood' I find a bit more complex. No-one so far has mentioned conditional - is this the same as subjunctive in English? I don't think so. Perhaps indicative is 'likely actually to happen', conditional is 'might happen' and subjunctive is 'unlikely to happen'. Maybe mood is degrees of likeliness? (Interrogative would then be 'of unknown likelihood' or 'trying to find out likelihood'. Not sure where this leaves imperatives, though?)
When I start tryng to work out mood, I end up with sentences like those below. I know they are different, I know what they mean / imply in terms of whether something is going to happen, might happen / is totally hypothetical, but I don't know what mood all these verbs are in.
If I don't eat, I am hungry.
If I don't eat, I will be hungry.
If I didn't eat, I would be hungry.
If I were not to eat, I would be hungry.
...I am now way out of my depth!
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted ![]()
tenses
william 07/16/00 06:00 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bingley 07/17/00 04:54 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
Rubrick 07/17/00 08:14 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bingley 07/17/00 08:57 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
AnnaStrophic 07/17/00 11:13 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
jmh 07/17/00 12:51 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
william 07/17/00 04:37 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
AnnaStrophic 07/17/00 10:13 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
jmh 07/17/00 10:37 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
AnnaStrophic 07/17/00 11:22 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bridget 07/20/00 09:17 AM ![]()
Re: bloomers
jmh 07/21/00 01:37 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bingley 07/18/00 05:06 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
Rubrick 07/18/00 06:59 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bingley 07/18/00 11:20 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bingley 07/18/00 04:40 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
AnnaStrophic 07/18/00 01:31 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
tsuwm 07/18/00 02:16 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
AnnaStrophic 07/18/00 02:27 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
Jackie 07/18/00 03:11 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
william 07/18/00 02:46 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
william 07/18/00 03:05 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
AnnaStrophic 07/18/00 03:26 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
jmh 07/18/00 04:17 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
tsuwm 07/18/00 05:44 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
jmh 07/18/00 09:01 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bingley 07/19/00 05:11 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
william 07/19/00 01:13 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bridget 07/20/00 09:39 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bingley 07/21/00 04:50 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bridget 07/21/00 05:26 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
william 07/21/00 05:48 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bridget 07/21/00 06:28 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
william 07/22/00 02:23 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bridget 07/23/00 09:14 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bingley 07/24/00 02:49 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
william 07/24/00 03:20 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bingley 07/24/00 05:04 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
william 07/24/00 02:21 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bridget 07/20/00 09:00 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
tsuwm 07/18/00 12:26 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
wsieber 09/07/00 05:42 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
Jackie 09/07/00 02:26 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
paulb 09/15/00 11:05 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
Jackie 09/15/00 12:01 PM ![]()
Re: time
paulb 09/18/00 11:18 AM ![]()
Re: time
Jackie 09/18/00 02:15 PM ![]()
Re: time
tsuwm 09/18/00 03:27 PM ![]()
Re: time
wsieber 09/19/00 06:01 AM ![]()
Re: time
paulb 09/19/00 10:58 AM ![]()
Re: time
Jackie 09/19/00 11:46 AM ![]()
Re: time
Bridget 09/20/00 09:17 AM ![]()
Re: time
Jackie 09/20/00 02:54 PM ![]()
Re: widdershins
paulb 09/21/00 08:41 AM ![]()
Re: widdershins
Bridget 09/22/00 07:36 PM ![]()
Re: widdershins
maverick 09/26/00 05:27 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
cowboy 09/15/00 12:44 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
tsuwm 09/15/00 02:25 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
Bridget 09/17/00 05:39 AM ![]()
Re: tenses
RhubarbCommando 09/21/00 03:57 PM ![]()
Re: tenses
TEd Remington 09/26/00 05:40 PM ![]()
Re: adjectives
wsieber 09/27/00 06:41 AM ![]()
Re: adjectives
jmh 09/27/00 07:32 AM ![]()
Re: adjectives
wsieber 09/27/00 08:57 AM ![]()
Re: adjectives
maverick 09/27/00 08:40 AM ![]()
Re: adjectives
wsieber 09/27/00 08:49 AM ![]()
Re: adjectives
maverick 09/27/00 04:12 PM ![]()
Re: adjectives
Bingley 09/28/00 12:45 PM ![]()
Re: adjectives
Jackie 09/28/00 03:35 PM
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,915Posts229,897Members9,197 Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members Bill_L, achz, MAGNVSTALSMA, Burlyfish, Renegade98
9,197 Registered Users
Who's Online Now 0 members (), 451 guests, and 2 robots. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 28
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613wofahulicodoc 10,898tsuwm 10,542LukeJavan8 9,947Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith.org