Search results for 'tag:Difference between tag:Subjunctives' matching tags 'Difference between' and 'Subjunctives'

Re: what's the difference between "although" and "even if"

Cool Breeze — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:33:37 GMT

china.hyh
And in what situation should I use B but not A?

Use even if in a clause with a subjunctive when the main clause has a conditional:

Even if I knew him better, I wouldn't tell him anything about this.

Re: Condtitional tense

Avangi — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:10:21 GMT

Anonymous
OK, so to recap:

If I have a simple yes or no question (whether), using reported speech makes the most sense, eg:

"...last thing I would care about would be (any other words I can use here?) whether or not he WAS German."

Other than that what matters is whether or not the situation still exists:

"...last thing I would care about would be what his nationality IS." (or "was" if you're talking about something that happened in the past, for example a robbery or a scenario like that)

Any obvious mistakes here?

Hi Anon,

I love your example, but what's your conclusion? Also, isn't the first (missing) part of the sentence important in setting up the tense situation?

If I were / was in the jungle the last thing I would worry about is whether or not I was / am an American citizen. Let's say it's really supposed to be "were." If I say "was," does that have anything to do with past tense? If this is a hypothethetical, does it even have a tense? If this is an example of past tense, and my citizenship is a continuous thing, does that mean it's my choice to use either "was" or "am"? Would that choice effect the meaning in any way at all?

If I am in the jungle the last thing I would / will worry about was / is / will be whether or not I was / am / would be / will be an American citizen. Is this the same sentence? Is "If I am" subjunctive? Does the if clause have a tense? What kind of choices are now available to me?

Regarding your example, you mentioned "for example a robbery" by way of explaining what you mean by "in the past." Does this mean the tense of the [reported speech] is totally dependent on context, rather than the tense of any verbs in the if clause? And would that make a difference between your example and mine?

Best regards, - A.

Edit, note - Amy offered an analysis of "If I am" as being equal to "Whenever I am" in a different example.

Re: Is there any difference of nuance between the two?

CalifJim — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 07:17:31 GMT

difference between the two sentences of 'It is high time that I was in bed' and 'It is high time that I were in bed.'

You need ... was .... As far as I know, the expressions It is (high) time (that) do not take the subjunctive (I were) in modern English.

CJ

indicative/subjunctive moods help

User_gary — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:26:35 GMT

I read about subjunctive and indicative mood in many sites but I'm still struggling to understand the basic difference between these two moods. So I hope you will help me with this.

Re: He insisted on my/me singing a song.

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:58:23 GMT

Hoa Thai wrote:
Goodman wrote:

You asked: Why canât I find insist on somebody doing something usage in any dictionaries?

Hi Goodman,

That was exactly what I asked.

Is 'She insisted on John speaking for us all' correct? I thought the dictionaries suggest that we should say, "She insisted that John spoke for us all' instead.

EDIT: The reason I raised the question is to point out the difference between 'insist on me singing' and 'insist on my singing'. In other words, 'me' is a pronoun that can stand on its on, while 'my' must accompany / pair with another word / phrase. In that sense, the 'somebody' goes well with 'me', not 'my'. 'My singining' should be considered as the 'doing' instead.

Hi Hao,

I think the confusion lies in the word "insist".

She insists that (not "on") you take the trip to China for the contract signing meeting (subjunctive) = She insists on your (not you) talking the trip to China for the contract signing meeting. Meaning is the same but structures are not.

Subjunctive

Doll — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 20:13:00 GMT

1)sentence example:

"parents wish their daughter were"

or

"parents wish their daughter was"

what is correct?

2)*If she was leaving, you would have heard about it. (indicative mood)

If she were leaving, you would have heard about it. (subjunctive mood)

Is there any difference in meaning in the aforesaid moods?

Hello everyone,

I was looking at the old posts and I saw this posts sent years ago. I read the explanations but I didn't understand the difference between the sentences entirely.I will be happy if you can explain again.

Thanks in advance.

Re: if

Taka — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:55:31 GMT

MrPedantic wrote:
For me, the difference between the standard "type I" and "type II" conditionals relates not so much to possibility or conviction, as to the degree of detachment the speaker wishes to express.

(It may be that other members would find this a strange way of looking at it, though!)
MrP

It's not strange at all! In fact, that's what I had in mind as the core image of the subjunctive mood! That 'detachment' on the part of the addresser gives to the addressee an impression of politeness, reservation, uncertainty, some 'drawing back' kind of attitude of the addresser.

(1) If you do it, I will do it too!
(2) If you did it, I would do it too.

I suspect if the adressee were told (2) instead of (1), he/she would get the impression that you were not really into it. Well, or maybe the impression that you are being polite, but it depends on context. The point is, there is not much pushy air in (2), compared to (1).

Now, getting back to the original question.

Psychologists were really concerned about the situation surrounding children. They thought a drastic change was needed to improve the situation so that children would develop into better, happier and kinder adults, and they thought it was urgent. In other words, they tried to revolutionize the whole situation.

I wouldn't say the air of detachemnt of type II is inappropriate here, but the directness of type I fits much better to express their strong concern and pressing need.

What do you think, MrP?

Re: look like/ look as if

Doll — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:08:11 GMT

What's the difference between "look like" and "look as if" ?

"It looks as if it is going to rain." yes this is correct. You see that there are gray clouds in the sky and you say this. You can say It look like it is going to rain or it looks like as though it is going to rain too. There is no subjÄ±nctive mood here.

Can I say "It looks like that it is going to rain." ?

And on my text book, there're other examples.

"He looks as if he understood." Why the word "understood" is past tense and the other one above is not ?? Because we can't open his braina nd see whether he understood or not. In some contexts, as if and asthough requires subjunctive. Here it means he seems that he understood me or it seems that he understood me or he seems to have understood me. Probably he understood.

Does it mean the same if I said "He seems to understand." or "It seems (that) he understand."?

One more... "It seems as though he understood." as if and as though are frineds. They give the same meaning to the context.

Would it mean the same if I get rid of "as though"? If you omit as though , your sentence will be ungrammatical.

Are they just more formal?? I think they are ok as they are used. You should show me other alternatives to decide whether it is more formal or not.

Re: Is my thought about this issue right?

Philip — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:53:58 GMT

The Graduate wrote:

Hi there,

A couple of hours ago I was thinking about the difference between the following two sentences:

I feel as if I did something wrong
I feel like if I did something wrong No 'if' with like.

According to my understanding, I think that the first one is used when someone did not actually do something wrong (and he know or suppose that), but the reaction he received because of what he did makes him feel that feeling of doing something wrong. The other sentence delivers almost the same meaning except that the speaker, let us say is 90% sure that he did something wrong.

I can explain my point of view by giving examples ..

For the first sentence consider this example:

A student is sure he did well in the final exam and has not yet received his grade .. but his teacher's looks to him makes him feel unsure about what he did (he feels as if he did not do well in the final exam)

For the second sentence consider this example:

Some boys are playing football and suddenly, one of them hit the ball stongly; causing it to fly away .. a couple of seconds later, they hear the sound of something breaking, the one who hit~~ted~~ the ball starts to feel like he did something wrong!

Please, tell me wether my thought is right .. and don't forget to correct any mistake you find in my writing ..

Thanks in advance ..

I've never thought about the differences, but my initial reaction is that you are probably correct. "As if" often takes the subjunctive, which leads to the idea that the action is contrary to fact.

Re: might vs might have and Passive versions of both

Bokeh — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:42:21 GMT

Hena wrote:
I know might is less stronger than may; can we also say "could" is less probable than "might" ?

The difference between "could" and "might" is that "could" can form an indicative, standalone, simple past tense of the present tense form "can" whereas the standalone "might" forms the imperfect subjunctive only, and is used just to express possibility in the present or future (not past and not indicative). Hence with "could" we can form sentences such as: "I could speak Spanish when I lived in Spain as a child but don't know if I still could.", where blue is past tense indicative and red merely expresses possibility.