Summary

‘Grammar and semantics’ reflects the central idea that certain distinctions in the grammars of languages (including the grammar of English) signal important distinctions of meaning. (Traditionally the label for the grammatical distinctions and associated meanings was ‘grammatical categories’.) Case has to do with how languages signal the relationships between the verb and the nouns in a clause. In many languages, nouns consist of a central stem to which case endings (case suffixes) are added. Verb–noun relationships are also signaled by word order and prepositions, and the term ‘case’ has been extended to these devices. Gender has to do with the different classes of noun in a given language. In English, nouns divide into classes based largely on natural gender; that is, the gender class a noun belongs to is connected with whether the related pronoun is he, she or it. In other languages, nouns referring to inanimate objects fall into classes labelled ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’, but the reasons have to do with the grammatical behavior of the nouns and not their meaning. Mood has to do with the modes in which speakers and writers can present situations. They can make statements, ask questions or issue commands with respect to a situation. They can present a situation as a fact, as possible or as a necessary consequence of certain circumstances. They can present a situation as real, that is, as close to or actually happening in this world, or as unreal or irreal, as not happening in this world and even as so remote from this world that it will never happen .