In Expressions^x, Clauses^x, Subjunctives^x

Subjunctive is used when the action is not REAL or PREFFERED. And it's rarely used in contemporary English, in idiomatic expression or in more formal speech. Relative clause (Subordinate Clause, Adjectival Clause ) is used when you want to give more information about event or person or thing...

Yes. Your backshift interpretation seems right to me. But I don't see this as necessarily subjunctive. It comes off as a sort of borderline case to my ear. CJ PS. ... would have baked you a cake is the usual expression!

It's not subjunctive. It's the modal use of need . Modal need can occur in non-assertive contexts. Modals never take the s in the first person singular of the present tense the way non-modal verbs do. In that way they resemble subjunctive forms, which are also missing the s . The...

Anonymous wrote: Hi, I usually edit some of the stuff my coworkers write around here, I believe I have good knowledge of what I'm doing but now I doubt it because of a document I'm reading right now... This is how it reads (in many paragraphs): "It is recommended that the agency...

SHALL AND WILL IT is unfortunate that the idiomatic use, while it comes by nature to southern Englishmen (who will find most of this section superfluous), is so complicated that those who are not to the manner born can hardly acquire it; and for them the section is in danger of...

Mister Micawber wrote: I think the more common form is ' it's high time you taught them. ..' PS: Or ' it's high time you teach them ..' Hmm. Now I'm not sure which one to choose; we obviously have something else working here. One of the uses of subjunctive is apparently in ' it's time (that) '...

Clive wrote: Hi, If he called, tell him I'll be back soon If you said that to me, I would have no idea what you meant. I certainly wouldn't see it as referring to any kind of future calling. It sounds like you are telling me "if he called in the past, tell him (when? next time he calls?)...

Mary Ansell has a chapter on the subjunctive mood at http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/durrus/153/gramch09.html. One of the complications in using the subjunctive is the fact that, besides hypothetical condition clauses, which require the subjunctive, there are factual condition clauses that do...

Thanks for your reply, MrP. 1. I would call it an exclamatory conditional. The main clause is left unspoken, but we can usually infer it, e.g. "if only she would contact me, I would be very happy". Ok, it’s a conditional with an unexpressed result but still a ‘conditional’ right? In...

The subjunctive mood is used in dependent clauses that do the following: 1) express a wish; 2) begin with if and express a condition that does not exist (is contrary to fact); 3) begin with as if and as though when such clauses describe a speculation or condition contrary to fact; and 4)...