You shall do it – necessity

I will do it – volition

In the second the independent meaning is lost and the fixed word combination is perceived as the future tense form: I shall go there / You will go there.

The category of mood in OE was represented by three mood forms, one for each of the moods (indicative, subjunctive and imperative). The subjunctive in OE did not show whether the events were probably or contrary to fact, but it had two tense forms – past and present, which in the course of history developed into two subjunctive moods:

I be present – out of the OE present tense form of the subjunctive mood

I were present – our of the OE past tense form of the subjunctive mood.

The difference between these two subjunctive moods now is in the shade of probability, and not in the tense, the second one denoting events which are contrary to fact.

In addition to that at the end of Middle English two more subjunctive mood forms appeared making use of the analytical form building means:

I should be present – to show events which are probable, though problematic

I should be present – to show imaginary events contrary to fact.

36. Verbal grammatical categories in oe

Grammatical categories of the finite forms of the verb.

The system of conjugation mainly embraced the finite forms of the verb as the non-finite forms were not conjugated but declined. The system of conjugation of the OE verb was built up by four grammatical categories.

PERSON

There were three persons in OE: 1, 2, 3.

But we have distinct person forms only in the Indicative mood, the Imperative and the Oblique mood forms reflecting no person differences and even the Indicative mood forms changing for person only in Singular, the plural forms being the same irrespective of person.

NUMBER

The grammatical category of number was built up by the opposition of two number forms – Singular and Plural

Ic write (singular) We writa.. (plural) tense

The grammatical category of tense was represented by two forms: Present and Past tenses. There was no Future tense, future events were expressed with the help of a present tense verb + an adverb denoting futurity or by a combination of a modal verb (generally sculan or willan + an Infinitive).

MOOD

There were three mood forms in OE: Indicative, Imperative and Oblique. The indicative Mood and the Imperative were used in cases similar to those in which they are used now. But the Oblique mood in OE differed greatly from the corresponding mood in New English. There was only one mood form in OE that was used both to express events that are thought of as unreal or as problematic – today there are two mood forms to denote those two different kinds of events, conventionally called the Subjunctive and the Conjunctive. The forms of the Oblique Mood were also sometimes used in contexts for which now the Indicative mood would be more suitable – to present events in the so-called “Indirect speech”.

36. Formation of new long vowels in Mod E