Re: Grammatical Summary of Kemata

On Thursday 13 December 2001 08:43, Thomas R. Wier wrote:
> Quoting Rune Haugseng <haugrune@...>:
> >
> > I thought subjunctive meant "wish" and optative "hope", or the other
> > way around.
>
> Not really.  The problem is that "subjunctive", "optative",
> "jussive", etc. are all labels that we use to make grammars
> of languages readable.  They are useful for conveying information,
> but they do not have any meaning in and of themselves.  The term
> "subjunctive" is a case in point.  In Greek, this can  imply
> volition ("want"), permission ("may"), possibility ("can, might")
> or admonition ("should") and more.  In English, the subjunctive
> tends to be more restricted:
>
>   (a) The judge suggested that he be put in confinement.
>   (b) The judge suggested that he is put in confinement.
>
> The subjunctive in (a) implies that the judge wants some particular
> action to occur; the indicative in (b) implies that the judge thinks
> that a particular set of cirumstances is the case, but does not
> comment on whether that is a good or a bad thing.
Ah, so they're just used of various forms that have a vaguely similar
meaning.

-------------
Rune Haugseng

Reply