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Bring Back the Subjunctive! | ||
Tags: Morphology | English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4890 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 1 of 29 09 March 2012 at 2:52am | IP Logged | ||
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Subtitle: Grammar habits I've picked up while studying foreign languages.
Two days ago I started tackling the Subjunctive in French. Today I can't seem to stop using it ... in English. I don't know if I always have, and am just more aware of it now, or if studying the subjunctive in French has triggered its use in English. I remember having a similar experience last year after studying the Spanish subjunctive. I thought it sounded very elegant, and wanted to bring it back to every-day English! I wonder if anyone else finds that their native tongue is impacted by studying other languages? Edited by kanewai on 09 March 2012 at 2:54am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7157 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 2 of 29 09 March 2012 at 3:38am | IP Logged | ||
Yessir, as seen here 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| eggcluck Senior Member China Joined 4702 days ago 168 posts - 278 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 3 of 29 09 March 2012 at 5:31am | IP Logged | ||
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Well I was not sure what the subjuntive was so I had to look it up, thoguh from the example sentences I saw it woudl seem to be that the subjunctive still sees a fair bit of use within my particular part of the uk at least. Particulary in the more rural regions and among older folk.
Language changes are about trends and fads sometimes I feel. So if you stasrt using in the states and it catches on with those around you if they like it, maybe it will then spread a bit more :P Though I would doubt it, things that fall out of use fall out fo use for a reason! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tibbles Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5192 days ago 245 posts - 422 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Korean | Message 4 of 29 09 March 2012 at 7:10am | IP Logged | ||
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Don't use the subjunctive too much. As the FSI Spanish text says, many learners develop "subjunctivitus" from overuse. :)
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6950 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 5 of 29 09 March 2012 at 9:11am | IP Logged | ||
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I might have started distinguishing between "who" and "whom" because of German.
Besides that, I've adopted mannerisms and ways of phrasing things in English that might not be so natural to a monolingual English speaker, which I've described in the thread that Chung linked above. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Majka Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic kofoholici.wordpress Joined 4658 days ago 307 posts - 755 votes Speaks: Czech*, German, English Studies: French Studies: Russian | Message 6 of 29 09 March 2012 at 9:42am | IP Logged | ||
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As already mentioned, the influence is real and twofold:
Positive influence: I am more aware of correct grammar and wording. It influences my writing and literary spoken language positively. Negative influence: I have to check myself very carefully not to use phrases translated from foreign language. The problem are not completely different sayings, but near identical wordings. For example one of my pet peeves is the use of the phrase "it is not my cup of tea" in Czech (the Czech equivalent would be "it is not my parquet"). I have found it in books, in news... For me, it is a sure sign of sloppy translation. And it shouldn't be found in a work of professional in media. In fact, this is a reason I am just giving a translation I have done into my native language to a college for proofreading. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kman543210 Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4665 days ago 26 posts - 73 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, German | Message 7 of 29 09 March 2012 at 10:02am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm not sure if learning Spanish directly influenced my usage of the subjunctive in English, but I definitely use the subjunctive with if clauses such as "If Jane were here, she'd..." Learning Spanish helped me understand English grammar better as well (I definitely use whom where appropriate).
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5670 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 8 of 29 09 March 2012 at 11:02am | IP Logged | ||
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I would be very happy if the subjunctive were brought back.
6 persons have voted this message useful |
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