In Modals^x, Clauses^x, Subjunctives^x

__ could cannot be used to show the past success of a past attempt, but could not can be used to show failure. I tried to catch the ball, and I could. (Wrong.) I tried to catch the ball, and I was able to. (Correct.) I tried to catch the ball, but I could not. (Correct.) I tried to catch...

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...

Yankee wrote: Yes, Taka, that's how I see it. Thank you, Amy! Marius Hancu wrote: I see where Yankee's coming from and there's some argument for it, but the would at the end of the sentence is decisive, IMO: it's subjunctive because it's a hypothetical situation: MH, For your information:...

I am indeed trying to help you, and I'll try once more and then be done. The last two examples that you quote fromWikipedia are not in the subjunctive. Subjunctive is a verb form. Both are merely adverbial clauses of purpose (the conjunction is ' so that '), and both must include the auxiliary...

Taka wrote: Remember, just because the modal verb 'would' appears in the main clause, this doesn't mean that the verb in the if clause must be in the subjunctive if the content of that clause is not presupposed to be false. The above is related to the following example sentence: ...

Yankee wrote: Hi Taka In case you haven't found this yet, here is a link to what the American Heritage Book of English Usage has to say about the subjunctive: http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/061.html Good, Yankee. Thanks for the URL. And I was particularly interested in these parts....

Hi Bokeh, Becasue of your reply, it made me take a second look at the original question. I also did some research and found this paper written on the subject of Semantic Composition of Subjunctive Conditionals by Michela Ippolito of MIT/Tübingen University. I am not completely sure if I...

Rahul Malhotra wrote: but, i dont know why so many books on english grammar says that modals should not be used in the condition of conditionals and can only be used in the result . Often, this is caused by this situation where the above rule is correct: ---------- would have for...

http://www.englishforums.com/English/Pleased/hvdv/Post.htm http://www.englishforums.com/English/Subjunctive/gmkc/Post.htm In 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...

I am studying the verb "wish". It is often followed by a clause in the subjunctive mood. I wonder only state verbs can appear in the clause in the past form, while action verbs must be proceded by a modal auxiliary verb. I wish that I were a bird. (1) I wish that I flew. (2) I wish I could...