By Subjunctives, Past tenses

Although finite forms (would) are Past tense, the meanings of 'would' in these sentences differ. In 'In those days, he would do anything to make her happy' 'would' is used to describe habits or characteristic behaviour in the Past, as in: He’d always turn and wave at the end of the street. With...

http://www.englishforums.com/English/Pleased/hvdv/Post.htmhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/Subjunctive/gmkc/Post.htmIn both of the above posts, miriam has explained the subjunctive in detail but it's all quite confusing to me. I've studied subjuctive from American Heritage and Columbian Guide...

Calive wrote: ... by BBC. It explains the rather strange use of simple past tense. Not that strange. Some consider it just another form of subjunctive.

Alienvoord wrote:thanks CB. The labels may not be important, but if we are to understand the structure of English, it's important to understand that the verb form used in your first example has a quite different distribution from the forms in your second and third examples. Calling them...

thanks CB. The labels may not be important, but if we are to understand the structure of English, it's important to understand that the verb form used in your first example has a quite different distribution from the forms in your second and third examples. Calling them "present subjunctive" and...

Hello CB and Alienvoord, Firstly I thank you for your answer. 2 and 5 mean to me that the distinction between tenses does not apply to subjunctives. So in subjunctive mood either the past tense "was to be" or the present "be" may refer to the same (future) event. "It is strange but it is...

My point is that many people say that "were" in these cases is the past subjunctive. I'm saying it's not, for the reasons I already gave. As for "if I had" (which was not the point of this thread originally, I just brought it up), that is the simple past. "Subjunctive" and "indicative" "simple...

If I were / had ....... This has nothing to do with past tense. The indicative mood simply implies something unlikely to happen. "I wished I were in Paris with you". However, I know that is not going to happen but I wished it did. If she were the princess, then I were the king. - again past...

If she was leaving, you would have heard about it. (indicative mood) If she were leaving, you would have heard about it. (subjunctive mood) These sentences mean the same thing. And... I don't think "If she were" is the past subjunctive. It's the irrealis....

Inchoateknowledge wrote:If I had known (yesterday), I would have done something about it. Why is this sentence not regarded true past tense I don't know what 'true past tense' is but your sentence doesn't have a single verb in the past tense. It would take a highly original grammarian to say...