System and the axis of Choice  Systems are list of choices which are available in the grammar of a language.  It could be a list of things b/w which it is possible to choose.  What are these ‘things’ b/w which it is possible to choose?  They are meanings.  They are meanings b/w which the grammar of a language is able to distinguish.

The Mood system  There are two points to be noted initially about this system.  1. It is not to be confused with modality, which is a system whose environment is the verbal group, and whose features are realized by modal verbs.  2. Traditionally, features of mood are assigned to a form of verb and a clause contain such a verbal form.

The Mood system Inclusive Imperative Exclusive Mood Declarative Indicative Wh-interrogative Interrogative Non-wh interro-

 The first choice in the mood system may be represented as  Indicative  Imperative Indicative; The indicative mood is used for factual statement. All intentions that a particular language does not categorize as another mood are classified as indicative. In English, questions are considered indicative.

 If a clause is indicative, there is a further choice to be made b/w declarative and interrogative.  A declarative clause has its subject preceding its predicator, as in:  John is coming. S p

 He was called a saint. S P C  An interrogative clause has either the subject included in the predicator, or an initial wh- element (i.e. who, which, where, when, why, how), or both as in: Is john coming? p----s ----p

Wh-interrogative Interrogative Non-wh-interrogative Interrogative clauses may be either wh-interrogative or non-wh interrogative. This distinction might alternatively be labeled ‘yes/no' interrogatives. In non-wh interrogatives it is polarity which is in question ‘yes-ness or no-ness’ of the clause and predicated answer is ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

 Imperative; A clause which has chosen imperative makes a further choice b/w exclusive imperative and inclusive imperative.  The speaker of a clause which has chosen exclusive imperative excludes himself from the performers of action.  Ex; Open the door.

 The speaker of a clause which has chosen inclusive imperative includes himself among the performers of the action.  Ex. Let’s open the door.

Verbal Group  Verbal group is one of the most complex area of the English grammar.  This complexity is brought about by the fact that a relatively large number of systemic choices are made here.  The main complexity, in fact, is occasioned by the tense system.

 The principal system of Verbal group are;  Finiteness  Modality  Tense  Polarity  Voice

Finiteness  The system of finiteness is a primary distinction in the verbal group.  A finite verbal group is obligatory in an independent clause.  A non-finite verbal group is one criterion of a dependent clause.

 The system has the terms finite and non-finite, thus; Finite (- s, -d, base form of verb) Finiteness Non-Finite (ing, en,ed, base

Modality  Finiteness is realized at the initial element in group structure.  If a modal verb is present it will be the initial element.  The choice in the system of modality is a choice b/w marked and unmarked term.  The presence of an element contrasting with its absence, and can therefore be named modal and non- modal.

Systems Terms Realization Modal Any modal verb Modality Non-modal Any other group

Tense  A grammar should not only describe what has occurred, but should be capable of predicting what structures and combinations may occur.  Traditionally, a tense system in English has three terms Present Tense Past Future

 The term present is realized by the –s forms of the verb (she eats).  The term past is realized by the –d form of the verb (she walked).  The term future is realized by will/shall+ base form of the verb ( I will eat; they shall eat).

Polarity  The system of polarity is a system with the term positive and negative.  In this system there is always a one-to-one correlation realization.  The term negative is always realized by the negator (not, n’t).

 So this system is simply; System Term Realization Positive (Any group without negator) Polarity Negative Not, n’t

Voice  The system of voice in English has two terms, active and passive.  The former being unmarked and latter realized by part of the verb be+ en form of the verb. The system is simply thus; System Terms Realization Active Any group not marked as passive Voice Passive (part of ) be +-en

 This system is closely related to the transitivity system.  Distinction b/w operative (active) John washed the dishes. And receptive (passive) The dishes were washed by John, requires among other things, an active verbal group at p in the former and a passive verbal group at p in the later.

Nominal Group  The principal system operating at nominal group are those of  Number  Case  Gender

Number  The system of number is usually regarded as a feature of word rank, and a system having the term singular and plural. That is: Singular Plural Number

 It is true the terms in the number system are to a large extent realized morphologically at word rank; thus we can say: boy =singular: boys=plural  The system of number would more properly represented as Countable Singular Plural Number Uncountable

 Singular; a, this, that, each, one, every.  Plural; those, these, many, few, two, three.  Uncountable; all, such, first, second, some, no, my, any unmarked noun (e.g. sheep, deer).

Case  The system of case in English has two terms;  Marked/ Common case  Unmarked/ Genitive case  For the marked case neither of the names is really suitable; the function of the case is to mark relation, but this relation may be one of a number of types of relation, and certainly not only one of possession.

 The names of common and genitive are reasonably neutral and are well established. Thus; Common Genitive boy boy’s Singular horse horse’s man man’s

Common Genitive men men’s Plural boys boy’s daughters daughter’s

Gender  Gender is usually said to be ‘natural’ in English.  It means that the contextually-determined classes of masculine, feminine and neuter are reflected by the grammatical system of gender.  In other words, nouns referring to males are masculine in gender.

 Noun referring to females are feminine in gender.  Nouns referring to neither are neuter in gender. Masculine (man, boy, death) Gender Feminine (woman, girl, nature) Neuter (wood, Sunday, tree) Unmarked (he/she, he/it, she/it)

Description of Unmarked Gender  Nouns which correlates with either he or she. These are largely nouns denoting occupations, human relationships and some proper names, e.g. doctor, teacher, pupil, companion, servant, boss, supervisor, person.  Nouns which correlates with either he or she or it; mainly animate non-human nouns such as: insect, spider, beetle, cock, bull.

 Nouns which correlate with she or it; these include animate, non-human nouns, nouns referring to machines or engines, and place names, such as: mare, ship, car, train, country. Pakistan.  Nouns correlating with he, she or it, mainly names of animals and non adult humans, such as: deer, dog, cat, horse, cow, child, baby.