THE DEGREE OF PROBABILITY OF VERB SITUATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF HYPOTHETICAL MOOD WITHIN FUTURE TIME

Authors

  • Žana Gavrilović English Department, University of East Srajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejlll.v9i2.657

Keywords:

future time, modality, tense, factual, verb situation

Abstract

This paper explores the idea that each of the finite verb forms available for referring to future events in English expresses a different degree of probability regarding the realization of those events. These degrees of likelihood vary in relation to the present state of affairs, allowing us to evaluate how likely or unlikely a given verb situation is to occur. The research is conducted within the grammatical category of mood, particularly focusing on hypothetical opposition within it, and is focused on how finite verb forms contribute to expressing different probability levels within the temporal sector of the future. Future time, as inherently hypothetical, is always marked by modality. Yet, it can be referred to through the unmarked mood — the indicative — which is entirely factual in grammatical terms. Thus, the future becomes accessible through the grammatical category of tense, even though its realization remains a matter of hypothetical projection.

 

Author Biography

  • Žana Gavrilović, English Department, University of East Srajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Žana Gavrilović, PhD in English Linguistics, is an associate professor in the Department of English at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of East Sarajevo. She is lecturing various courses at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral levels of study. Her major interest in scientific research is the theory of syntax and the semantics of the English verb phrase, the ways it reflects itself in her mother tongue - Serbian, and the modes of teaching and acquisition of the language structures in English as a foreign language. Another field that she has been engaged in with her research is intercultural and transcultural communication. Additionally, she is included in the process of internationalisation of the University of East Sarajevo.

References

Barnes, J. (2011). The Sense of an Ending. London: Random House. Retrieved from https://www.julianbarnes.com/books/sense.html

Barnes, J. (2009). Nothing to be Frightened of. London: Vintage. Retrieved from https://www.julianbarnes.com/books/nothing.html

Barnes, J. (1986). Staring at the Sun. United Kingdom: Jonathan Cape. Retrieved from https://www.julianbarnes.com/books/staring.html

Barnes, J. (1980). Metroland. United Kingdom: Jonathan Cape. Retrieved from https://www.julianbarnes.com/books/metroland.html

Coates, J. (1983). The Semantics of the Modal Auxiliaries. London: Croom Helm. Retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/The-Semantics-of-the-Modal-Auxiliaries/Coates/p/book/9781138989986

Comrie, B. (1985). Tense. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Tense.html?id=KmFMW40zyFcC&redir_esc=y

Kazuo, I. (1989). The Remains of the Day. London: Faber and Faber. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/The_Remains_of_the_Day.html?id=K8q_QgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Kazuo, I. (2005). Never Let Me Go. London: Faber and Faber. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Never_Let_Me_Go.html?id=5N4cCOjPjv8C&redir_esc=y

Leech, G. (2004). Meaning and the English Verb (4th ed.). London: Longman. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Meaning_and_the_English_Verb.html?id=rcJTuOW2l1MC&redir_esc=y

Palmer, F. R. (2001). Mood and Modality (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Mood_and_Modality.html?id=xKUvDFTARR8C&redir_esc=y

Reichenbach, H. (1947). Elements of Symbolic Logic. New York: Macmillan. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Elements_of_Symbolic_Logic.html?id=quG4AAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y

Fitzgerald, F. S. (1922). The Beautiful and Damned. New York: Scribner. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/The_Beautiful_and_Damned.html?id=59GWDwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

Woolf, V. (1925). The Diary of Virginia Woolf. London: Hogarth Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/The_Diary_of_Virginia_Woolf_1925_1930.html?id=gijuAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y

Downloads

Published

2025-10-25

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2025)

Section

Articles