How to Teach Pragmatic Functions of English Subjunctive Mood

Abstract

English subjunctive mood, with a variety of pragmatic functions to show English users’ regret, determination and the like, originates from the Old English. In early literature work, English subjunctive mood was widely used. However, nowadays the frequency of English subjunctive mood has declined, far from that in the past. There are several reasons accountable for its decline: (1) English users tend to use easier declarative mood to replace English subjunctive mood. (2) English users ignore some commonly used structures. (3) English users understand its pragmatic functions incomprehensively. Firstly, it briefly introduces English subjunctive mood, covering the definition, classification, and development. Next, it puts much emphasis on the analysis of pragmatic functions of English subjunctive mood, euphemism function and emphasis function. At last, it offers some suggestions on the teaching of English subjunctive mood. This article is a complement to the research on English subjunctive mood, which aims to help English users understand the mood and appropriately use it to show their purposes in different contexts.