I've tried to find my way through the maze of our past conversation here, Hela, and I see that I have made at least one obvious mistake, and that you were correct in part of your original assumption. I have reviewed my understanding of the Subjunctive Mood, and this sentence-- 'If I caught you, I would eat you'-- is certainly not present subjunctive, it is just a conditional sentence in which we use the past form of the verb for possible future.
I have found myself without a clear understanding of the subjunctive, and I think I had better lay out the terms of the subjunctive in English (from Greenbaum & Quirk) for both of our benefits:
I. There are two forms of the subjunctive, called present and past.
-- The present subjunctive in all persons is 'be' for the verb 'to be', and the base form for all other verbs. Thus:
---- They prefer that I be quiet.
---- They suggested that I be quiet.
---- They have requested that he remain in the country.
---- They will be demanding that he not leave the country.
-- The past subjunctive exists only in one form, 'were', as a past form of 'to be':
---- If I were better informed, I could teach English.
II. There are two main uses of the present subjunctive, the mandative and the formulaic.
-- The mandative subjunctive is used in a 'that'-clause after a verb, adjective or noun of demand, recommendation, proposal, intention or similar notion:
---- I insisted that she stay for dinner.
---- It is necessary that the Eiffel Tower be repainted.
---- The requirement that the president resign for defalcation is fixed in stone.
-- The formulaic subjunctive is used in certain set expressions:
---- Come what may, I shall always be your friend.
---- God bless America.
III. There is one main use for the past subjunctive ('were'). It is used in conditional and concessive clauses and in subordinate clauses after 'wish' and 'suppose':
---- If I were you, I would not quit the day job.
---- He acts as though he were the lord of the realm.
---- I wish he were not so demanding.
It also appears in the stock phrase, 'as it were': He was, as it were, a little dictator.
Those are the limits of the use of the subjunctive in English. Other forms of expression exist as equivalents of the subjunctive, such as:
I insist that he should finish quickly.
I wish I was dead.
I apologize for my earlier confusion, and I hope you will review our previous discussion in the light of this more accurate summary.
(I will get to your latest questions in another post.)
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