A definição do condicional como modo ou tempo verbal: uma análise das propostas de gramáticas escolares de Português

Abstract

Bearing in mind that fact that in various Portuguese educational grammars published in aseries of new Linguistic Terminology for Elementary and Secondary Education (TLEBS) (Ministry ofEducation, 2004), there occurred a certain oscillation in the definition of the morphological and semanticnature of the conditional (mode vs. tense), we find it appropriate to carry out a specific studythat seeks to clarify this doubt. Hence, the main objective of this analysis is the assessment of the coherence of these definitions and of the grammatical characterization of the conditional mode and/or a future tense of the preterite as a way to shed light on a critical issue that is not presented in a uniform way in the educational grammar description of Portuguese. With these goals in mind, and in order to establish the bases of this study and compare theoretical perspectives, in the first place we will consult the leading grammars of reference or the theoretical grammars of Portuguese. Nevertheless, a selective reading of three theoretical grammars and of three practical grammars of Italian, French andSpanish, is carried out with the intention of comparing how they define the conditional. Then, afterhaving limited the dimension of this analysis of content from the grammar manuals, we proceed to theencounter and description of the texts from ten Portuguese educational grammars for the 3rd Cycle of Elementary education and / or Secondary Education, so as to verify their proposals of morphologicaland semantic characterization of the conditional mode/tense.As a way of possible conclusion, we hope to be able to clarify the proposals of these educationalgrammars and, at the same time, embrace a perspective of pedagogical approach to this sensitivearea of grammar that will make it more efficient for student learning and more understandablefrom a theoretical point of view.