CHAPTER III Mood Systems of English
3.1 Mood Elements
Previously, it has been explained that interpersonal meaning of language clause in its function as an exchange is realized by the Mood System of language. The mood
system of clause is represented by the mood structure of the clause, which comprises two major elements: 1 mood, and 2 residue. In this case, the functional constituents that
are involved in an exchange typically have mood-residue structures. A mood element of English consists of a subject and finite. Subject, when it first appears, may be a nominal
group. As Halliday 1994:72 says, “Finite is one of the small number of verbal operator expressing tense e.g. is, has, do or modality e.g. can, must”. Subject and finite are
closely linked together and combine to form one constituent which we call the Mood. While, residue element consists of a predicator, one or more complements, and any
number of different types of adjunct. For example: It was a dark now
It was
a dark now
Subject Finite
Residue adjunct
Mood Residue
Halliday 1994:75-76 explains, “1 The Finite element, as its name implies, has
the function of making the proposition finite. That is to say, it circumscribes it; it brings the proposition down to the earth, so that it is something that can be argued about. A
good way to make something arguable is to give it a point of reference in the here and now; and this is what the finite does. It relates the proposition to its context in the speech
event. This can be done in one of two ways. One is by reference to the time of speaking;
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the other is by reference of the judgment of the speaker. An example of the first is was in I was waiting for so long; of the second can in You can run. In grammatical terms, the
first is called Primary tense and the second is called Modality. i Primary tense means
past, present or future at the moment of speaking, they give tense to finite. For example: Past I drove all night to get to you, Present all the universes is calling, Future I’ll
swallow my pride. ii Modality means the speakers judgment of the probabilities, or the
obligations, involved in what he is saying. In other words, its relevance specified in modal terms. For example: Can You can start again, Will love will find a way, Had
to I had to escape, etc. but there is one further feature which is an essential concomitant of finiteness, that is Polarity. This is the choice between the positive and negative. In
order for something to be arguable, it has to be specified for polarity. So as well as expressing primary tense or modality, the finite element also realizes a polarity feature.
Each of the operators appears in both positive and negative form: diddidn’t, cancan’t and so on.
Table 2 Finite Verbal Operators Halliday, 1994:76 Temporal Operators
Past Present
Future Positive
did, was, had, used to does, is, has
will, shall, would, should Negative
didn’t, wasn’t, hadn’t,
didn’t + used to doesn’t, isn’t,
hasn’t wont, shan’t, wouldn’t,
shouldn’t Modal Operators
Low Median
High Positive
can, may, could, might
will, would, should, iswas to
must, ought to, need, hashad to
Negative needn’t, doesn’t
didn’t, won’t, wouldn’t,
shouldn’t mustn’t, oughtn’t to, hasn’t
to, hadn’t to
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2 Subject is realized by a nominal group nominal, which supplies the rest of what it
takes to form a proposition: namely, something by reference to which the proposition can be affirmed or denied. It provides the person or thing in whom is vested the success or
failure of the proposition, what is ‘held responsible. For example: Everyone told me to be strong, the subject of this sentence is I because it can be identified by the tag test: the
element that gets pick up by the pronoun in tag is the subject. In order to uncover the subject of any clause, you need simply to tag the clause. Every one told me to be strong,
don’t they”.
3.2 Mood Types
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