Now if I look up "are," the dictionary tells me that it is the present plural of "be." But what I would expect is that it would tell me that it is the present plural of "am" or "is" because those are the

Hi Tom Can I use it in everyday conversation? I'd say it's sometimes used in everyday conversation. Is the use of come natural in the given sentence?... I will invite you to dinner come December. I'd say that would be possible, but

... why can't we put it after It's a pity as a subject (subjunctive?) clause to say the party would have been enjoyable if you attended, which is advisable? No. The meaning doesn't come across the way you envision it. Once you have the

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

, ,'res','2','&sig2=ZSHbLHStlQdHn2a1h75tEQ')" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood"> Subjunctive mood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia English: Had we known (pluperfect subjunctive

I profess that I am a thief. Okay, but "confess" would be more common. To acknowledge I profess like a father. My American Heritage gives this meaning (intransitive), but I've never heard it. There are common religious meanings,

We suggested him for president The word for is important. This means We suggested that he should be president. I suggested him the Holiday Inn. The word for is missing. You could put it in: (1) I suggested him for the Holiday Inn. But then

Only the first is acceptable to my ear. (AmE) I don't interpret "The only pity is that" as a case that requires the subjunctive. The version of this that can take the subjunctive is as follows. It is a pity that I should have missed

What you have found simply shows that the present and future tenses are in free variation in this context. There may be a slight tendency to use the future in cases where the emphasis is on very active preparations of some sort, and to use the