GRAMMAR AND SEMANTICS : CASE,

GENDER, MOOD
ASPECT, TENSE, VOICE

Group 7
Nurul Fathia Salma
Shelvira Elsa Dwita
Tika Destia Nindya
 Introduction

Syntax is of interest ( as is morphology too) because without syntax human beings would be
unable to construct complex messages conveying information about complex
situations,proposals or ideas.

So, syntax is the set of rules,principles,and processes that govern the structure of sentences in
a given language,specially word order.
1. Case
The term ‘case’ was traditionally used for the system of noun suffixes typical of
Indo-European languages. They are explanations of the case terms such as
‘accusative’, ‘nominative’ and ‘ablative’
Let see the example of accusative case :
(1) b. reks magnum gladium ponit
king big sword put-down ‘the king put down the big sword’
Gladi instead gladium has accusative suffix -um. (Accusative case refers to the
case used for a noun or pronoun that is a direct object of a verb)
There are three terms of case, among others :
• refers to the case used for a noun or pronoun that is a direct object of a verb.
• Example : We made our dinner.

Accusative case •
•
Verb: made
Direct object: dinner (Note : direct object is to the right of the verb with no
prepositions.)
• Eg. Martha chewed on the bread, bread is not a direct object

• marks the subject of a verb. When the verb is active, the nominative is the
person or thing doing the action (agent); when the verb is passive, the

Nominative case nominative is the person or thing receiving the action.

• Example : The boy saw her.
• The red bag is bought by the old women.
• The subject is the boy and the red bag (Note: the subject is to the left of the
verb with no prepositions )

• is denoting a case (especially in Latin) of nouns and pronouns and words in

Ablative case grammatical agreement with them indicating an agent, instrument, or source,
expressed by ‘by’, ‘with’, or ‘from’ in English.
 Nominative case

(1) Latin Singular

a. magnus reks
great king ‘a/the great king’ The phrases in (1a–c) could function as subjects of
b. Magna regina clauses. They are said to be in the nominative case, the
great queen ‘a/the great queen’
case being signalled by the suffixes -s, -a and -um. The
c. magnum oppidum
nouns in (1a–c) have singular number.
great town ‘a/the great town’

(2) Latin Plural different suffixes appear both on the nouns and the
a. magni reges
great kings ‘(the) great kings’ adjectives when they are plural. Whether, for example, the
b. magnae reginae stem magn- takes the suffixes -us, -a, -i or -ae depends on
great queens ‘(the) great queens’
c. magna oppida what type of noun it modifies, what case the noun is in and
great towns ‘(the) great towns’ whether the noun is singular or plural.
• English doesn’t have case suffix.
• English does have the possessive (kepemilikan) suffix ‘s in John’s bike and Juliet’s bike spaniel.
• in spoken english, with the exception of irregular nouns such as children or mice, 's is not added to plural
nouns.
• Possession is signaled (in writing) by an apostrophe added to plural nouns, as in the dogs 'kennel.
• The apostrophe has no spoken equivalent. The 's suffix is also added to noun phrases rather than nouns, as in
• the woman next door's poodle and jhon and juliet's garden.
• But it is clear that the possesive suffix behaves very differently from the case suffixes of languages such as
Latin and Russian.
 2. Genders
‘Genders’ is the classes of nouns in Latin which are clasified ‘Masculine gender’,
‘Feminine gender’ and ‘Neuter gender’. English nouns fall into classes that are more closely
linked to natural gender. There is a major split between animate and inanimate nouns, linked to
the use of it as opposed to he and she. The animate nouns split into male and female, which
governs the use of he as opposed to she.
• The labels ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ and so on applied to classes of Latin noun can be seen
• Feminine are : Masculine are :
1. mater (mother) 1. pater (father)
2. filia (daughter) 2. filius (son)
3. femina (woman) 3. vir (man)
4. serva (female slave) 4. servus (male slave)
• But, if we work on the Australian language Dyirbal (North Queensland) has
shown that the working of a gender system might require knowledge of a
society’s myths. In Dyirbal myth, the moon and the sun are husband and
wife.
• the words for moon and husband are together in one class (masculine) the
other examples :
• the words for wife and sun are together in another class (feminine). The
other examples : fire and light
• Based on the book, the sentence of ’The satin bird brought fire from the
clutches of the rainbow snake’ the noun denoting the bird is in the same class
as the words for sun and fire (feminine).
• The reasons have to do with the grammatical behavior of the nouns and not
their meaning.
 Mood
• Indicative mood
The indicative mood is used to make factual statements, ask questions, or express
opinions as if they were facts. Any verb tense may be deployed in the indicative mood. Ex:
• I saw something today that really annoyed me. [Vitrearum’s Church Art]
• He lives most of the year in Spain but returns regularly to visit his ailing mother. [Sydney
Morning Herald]
• Vikings will be the new vampires. [Nile Guide]
• Prosecutors have not said whether they will appeal the decision. [New York Times]
• Imperative mood
A sentence in the imperative mood expresses commands or requests. It indicates that the
speaker desires for the action expressed in the sentence to take place. In most imperative
sentences, there’s an implied you. These sentences are in the imperative mood:
Sit on the sofa.
Let me go to bed
Keep reading.
 Subjunctive mood

In English, the subjunctive mood is used to explore conditional or imaginary

situations. It can be tricky to use, which partially explains why many speakers
and writers forgo it. But it’s quite useful (and aesthetically pleasing, at least to
us), and careful users of English should do their part to preserve it.
• French
a. Sa fille est première en tout
His daughter is first in everything
b. Il veut que sa fille soit première en tout
He wants that his daughter is first in everything
 Uses of the subjunctive mood

• The subjunctive mood is used to explore conditions that are contrary to fact:
If I were President, I wouldn’t put up with it. [National Review]
• It’s used to explore hypotheticals:
If I were to embroider a sampler, it would say, “Simple is truly best in Frytown.” [Z Wire]
• It’s used to express wishes:
I wish I were there to have a drink with you and dish. [Ebar]
• It’s used to express commands or demands:
She demanded that he leave the hospital premises … [Salem News]
• It’s used to express suggestions:
I suggest that he implement a budget cut in March. [Daily Gleaner]
Tense In English

Traditional grammars of English talk of past, present and future tense. One view is that past and
present tense go together, since they are both formed from verb stems plus the suffixes -s and -ed.
(We ignore irregular verbs such as swim and the suffix-less present-tense forms.) The traditional future
tense is formed from the auxiliary verbs shall and will plus the verb stem (although many speakers do
not use shall). That is, the traditional future tense is a syntactic construction but the past and present
tenses are single words. This grammatical difference should make us suspect that the ‘future tense’ is
not a tense at all but has some other meaning. It turns out that the will construction does not just
place an event in future time but in many cases signals the intention of the speaker; will derives
historically from a verb that was equivalent to want or intend and can still be used with this meaning.
 In examples with first-person subjects, such as I’ll return the book tomorrow and I’ll meet you at the
airport, the speaker’s intention is part of the message. In examples with third person animate subjects,
such as She’ll be in London tomorrow or He’ll hand in the essay on Friday, the speaker may be talking
about the third person’s intentions but may just be making a prediction about a future event. In
examples with third-person inanimate subjects, it is difficult to find a reference to intentions;
The English Perfect

Another syntactic construction central to the tense–aspect system of English is the Perfect,
(17) The snow has blocked the track.

Analysts have found it difficult to classify the Perfect as an aspect or a tense. It has two constituents, has or have
and a past participle, here blocked.

The Perfect in standard written English has four major uses,

(18) a. I have written up my thesis. resultative
b. The Minister has (just) arrived. hot news/recent past
c. I’ve been at work for six hours. extended now/persistent situation
d. Have you ever visited Doubtful Sound?

Yes, I have been there. experiential/indefinite anterior

They are all examples taken from spontaneous speech.

19) a.You have access to a vein gained and a cardiac analysis done within one minute. [Radio discussion]
b. That’s him consulted. [TV comedy]
c. That’s you finished. [task-related dialogue]
d. There’s something fallen down the sink. [conversation]
e. She needs collected at four o’clock. [Scottish English conversation]
The passive

We can choose to mention the person(s) attacked, the Patient(s), but to leave out the attacker(s). This
is done by using the passive construction, in which the Patient noun, here Emma and Harriet, is the
subject.

For example:
1. Emma and Harriet were attacked yesterday.
If we want to make sure that our addressee gets all the details, we mention the Agent and the Patient,
and we have a choice of construction, as in (2).
2. a. Emma and Harriet were attacked by those ruffians.
b. Those ruffians attacked Emma and Harriet yesterday.
 Other languages, such as Latin, also have a construction which allows speakers to omit Agents. The
major difference between English and Latin is that Latin verbs take different suffixes in the passive whereas
English employs a syntactic construction with an auxiliary verb and a passive participle.

a. servus regem occidit

Slave king is-killing
‘A slave is killing the king’

b. reks occiditur
king is-being-killed
‘The king is being killed’

c. reks a servo occiditur

king from slave is-being-killed
‘The king is being killed by a slave’
- The sheep got infected with scrapie.

The get passive is dynamic. An example such as The vase was broken is ambiguous; it can be interpreted
either as describing an event in which someone broke the vase or as describing the state in which the vase is
– the speaker might point to the bits of the vase lying on a table. The vase got broken can only be used to
describe an event. This difference comes largely from the fact that be is a colourless verb that relates to
states and locations and membership of groups while get is basically a verb of movement, We got to Cupar in
an hour – which has been extended to changes in state – The sky got dark, We got cold.
The middle

The third major construction in English is the middle. Typical middles listed in grammars of English are
given in (1). They have to do with permanent properties of entities.

1 . a. This sweater washes well.

b. This book reads well.

Many middles have what is called as ‘episodic’ interpretation, that is, they denote a single episode or
event. Examples are in (2).

2. a. These cars sold very quickly last week.

b. It will take years for the Mersey to clean.
c. The course is jumping well.
d. One bomb didn’t guide and crashed.