Re: Help!

On Friday 23 May 2003 03:15 pm, John C. wrote:
>      Hello everyone. I am constructing my own language and seemed to have
> hit a barrier: creating the conditional voice. For example, what is
> "would?" Is it a future tense? What word is it a future tense of? I am
> creating a subjunctive/conditional and I would really appreciate it if
> anyone had advice for me, or a webpage that could thoroughly explain this
> issue. Thank you so much.
        Strictly speaking, "would" is a modal verb (modal == mood) that is rather
flexible in usage[1], so the first thing you need to do is stop thinking in
English. ;> It's not a future tense, either, since a.) English doesn't have a
true future tense (we use auxilliary verbs like "will") and b.) it can be
used in such sentences such as "I would have been going to the movies now,
were it not for the sharpshooter in my bathroom."
        *cough*
        Now, on to the subjunctive: For a brief look at the subjunctive, try SIL's
Glossary of Linguistic Terms:
http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsSubjunctiveMood.htm.
For a more detailed look at the subjunctive (as it related to Olde Englisc),
try http://www.engl.virginia.edu/OE/courses/handouts/Subjunctive.html
        Enamyn has an interesting (although by no means unique) system for showing
the subjunctive mood: all nouns and pronouns have two forms, the realis (that
is, what is "real") and the irrealis (all that is "not real," which includes
the subjunctive, as well as the conditional.) Its verbs also have several
different modes, which include several levels of obligation, from the
obligative ("you must") to the permissive ("you may"). As a result, there's a
pretty nice way of making polite forms. By simply changing the pronoun from
realis to irrealis, one can change, "You _must_ paint the house tomorrow!" to
"You _might have to_ paint the house tomorrow." (Actually, the English
doesn't quite capture the sense of it...another way might be to say, "Won't
you please consider the absolute need of the house to be painted?") However,
overuse of the irrealis form is considered fauning and toady.
        Hope that helps; feel free to ask any more questions.
        :Peter

[1] See http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/grammar/archive/would01.html for a
in-depth discussion on how "would" is used in English.
--
Oh what a tangled web they weave who try a new word to conceive!