"That would be my mother" / Verb words

1.  "There is only one person who can help me when I'm feeling sad, and that (person) would be my mother."

"person" is understood.


2.  "The doctor suggested that she(does) not smoke."

----the above is a colloquial expression(grammatically incorrect). "does" which is deemed understood has been omitted. "that she(does) not smoke" is a noun clause, object of the verb suggested.

This is how I would explain the sentences. Perhaps there are others who woukld give better explanations.

Anonymous wrote:

Hi! I'm trying to explain the following concepts to someone learning English, but I'm not sure how.   Can anybody help me? 1.  "There is only one person who can help me when I'm feeling sad, and that would be my mother." She's confused by 'that would be my mother.'  It means exactly the same thing as and this could substitute for, "that [person] is my mother". This use of 'would' may have been chosen because the person views this as a more remote thing, not something happening now. Another example of this 'would': A: Whose jacket is this? B: That would be Jack's. {= That's Jack's.} ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 2.  "The doctor suggested that she not smoke." I can't for the life of me explain why this is correct.  The grammar book says something about "verb words," but I'm not familiar with these myself. Yulysess wrote: "As for the second, it is a matter of subjunctive mood. In noun clauses following certain verbs like "suggest", "recommend", "insist" etc. we can use "bare infinitive" instead of finite verbs and "infinitives" aren't limited by the subject of the sentences or clauses." Great explanation. I'll just add a few more examples: "The doctor suggested that she eat more fruit." [not 'eats'] "The doctor suggested that she sleep more." [not 'sleeps']  Thanks in advance for your advice! Brooke

Hello Dehbaash

Dehbaash wrote:

You  should write:- a) "The doctor suggested that she eats more fruit."  ( third person singular)

I love your idiolect.

paco

Guys! It`s not a question of laugh!

Something wrong with this third person singular...

I am sure that Dehbaash is wrong with the matter...

Somebody, judge us!