re moods

John Oaklands (lnjvo@cc.newcastle.edu.au)
Thu, 19 Sep 1996 08:04:00 -0500

Thanks Carl for getting back to me especially on the moods. Perhaps the
term 'sequence' with respect to the moods might not exactly refer to what
I'm after. I'm aware of most of what you listed re tense and mood etc. Let
me try to put the question in another way. Does the mood in the main clause
influence the mood in the subordinate clause? I do not refer to tense or
classes of verbs such as 'fearing' etc., but merely to the moods themselves.

For example, in the case of an imperative in the main clause might we expect
a subjunctive or indicative in the subordinate clause, but with difference
of meaning? What if the main clause verb is subjunctive, will the
subordinate clause verb be subjunctive or indicative, again with radical
differences of meaning? But if we have an indicative in the main clause,
would that mean that a subjunctive would be ruled out for the subordinate
clause and only indicative would be possible?

Do you or anyone else have any thoughts or info on these things or know of
any discussions in the literatiure of such phenomena?

John