Could you kindly check the correctness of the following sentences? 1)He always talks as though he were a sophisticated person. (Contains present meaning; subjunctive.) 2)That competitor is running so quickly as though he were being chased by a

Is it because of the 'if'? No, it's because it is subjunctive. For example: "If I was rude I am sorry" is correct, and, "If I were rude I am sorry" is nonsense because "was" refers to a real event, not a

When the verb comes before the subject. This is most common in questions but also found in conditionals, subjunctives and archaic writing. Do you come here often? Are they English? What have you eaten? Had I gone I would have... Were I president

Thank you, CalifJim and Philip, for the interesting discussion. When I had gone to bed this night, I ruminated on the explanation through the subjunctive, like Philip, although it never occurred to me that the verb ("signify") might be

Hi, It's not "weird usage". It's the subjunctive form. See also these threads: http://www.englishforums.com/English/IsVsBe/wnhmv/post.htm http://www.englishforums.com/English/ImperativeVsSubjunctive/djbrc/post.htm

Hi, Philip, I was on the fence about it, so I avoided (I thought) any suggestion that your interpretation was wrong. The reason for my vacillation was the verb signify , which seemed to me unable to govern a subjunctive -- and yet -- ??? Had the

Thanks for chiming in, CJ. So, you think it's not a subjunctive form? I was merely speculating because it sounded like one to me.

Hidden in this great 19th-Century prose is the subjunctive form, need , the reason for which I cannot identify right now. The subjunctive was used much more commonly at the time this was written. The subjunctive is the bare form of the infinitive,

Hi, It's generally " I was ": I was in my room yesterday night. (past simple, active) I was told a nice story at the pub. (past simple, passive) I was standing in front of the mirror when the telephone rang. (past progressive or

Jim, thanks, you are right. it was Subjunctive mood. When you say more lively, what does it exactly mean? Some context: they had been kind of desperate of the situations. and they needed a change, an enormous change of the situations. So he is