By Subjunctives, British English

It is a characteristic of British English, and of American English to a lesser extent, and especially in older forms of the language on both sides of the Atlantic, to substitute shall and should for will and would with a first-person subject.Hence, this substitution in mind, the sentence is...

Marius Hancu wrote: Goodman wrote: Can i say: It is essential that we be informed of your plans. Yes! Help him understand - OkIt is essential that we should be informed of your plans. We insist that he must be on time There are those who use modal in subjunctive which in my opinion is...

Ant_222 wrote:SimCity (original 1989 version) : Citizens demand that roads be built. Full version: «... that roads _should_ be built.» Same to your sentence: «... that he should save the Jewish people». So, think of it as omission of "should".I disagree. Certainly Ant_222's take on the...

Taka wrote:Bokeh,I would like you to cite what the book actually says.Plus, I wonder what your nationality is.Taka, I am a native British English speaker but that in itself doesn't prove I am right or wrong.Here are a couple of sentences from the book (if you want to read more you will have to...

In my dialect, it's always "were". Anytime there's an "If I" + the verb "to be" it's gonna be "were" no matter what follows. I heard that usage was dying out in British English? Is that true? To me, "If I was" sounds quite incorrect.

They are insisting he go/goes to Athens. It is advisable that he spend (not spends) the summer holidays with you.As a footnote: in British English, the present subjunctive is much less common than the indicative in such structures; though curiously, in the last 10 to 20 years, it has become...

Hello Anon 1. We suggested that he go to a specialist.] Here, "go" is the present subjunctive. Some speakers prefer to use the present subjunctive in a "that" clause after verbs such as "suggest", "recommend", etc. 2. We suggested that he goes to a specialist.] Here, "goes" is indicative....

Yes, as Paco says, "suggest" has different meanings. In your sentence "Donut " is informal ... used in British English to suggest that ..., the meaning is 'give an indication', not 'make a proposal'. You aren't saying in this sentence that anybody wants the bun to have a certain...

Dear friends, It is a most interesting discussion. It is my opinion that you may use a subjunctive verb if you desire to pose a hypothesis that is contrary to fact. If you desire to pose a hypothesis that may or may not be true, you may not use the subjunctive. We may therefore say that...

Hello Brooke This thread has become a little confusing. So just to summarise what others have said: 1. The doctor suggested that she not smoke. As Katsu and Yulysses have suggested, this is a subjunctive construction. We can make it clearer by omitting the 'not': 1. The cigarette-vendor...