By Subjunctives, Simple past

No difference. The trend is away from the subjunctive. Most people are more comfortable with simple past. Only a few of us old farts are still hanging on. Either way, be sure your seat belt is fastened.Best wishes, - A,.

Hi guys, I'm not sure I get the point. If the facts are that one thing happened in the simple past and two things both happened in the same time frame which was prior to that, why would we want to change those facts by altering the tenses out of respect to preference or frequency of...

Unfortunately, we don't have a "past - past perfect." The reference point (from one point of view) is "regretted" - simple past. "Hadn't been kinder" is previous to that. The regretting seems to have followed her death, so the lack of kindness and the...

I seem to have noticed that, when the object is not a person, "would rather" is often followed by the subjunctive mood instead of the simple past or the pluperfect. For instance, we say "I'd rather you joined me", but I rarely see: "I'd rather the meeting was...

MrPedantic wrote: I see what you mean; but I think the distinction between type I and type II conditionals disappears, once the statement is reported. In effect, everything becomes "detached", i.e. "remote".Your insight is amazingly deep, MrP! If anything, in my opinion, the reason why it...

Taka wrote: Parents and psychologists got the idea that if real fear and harsh punishment were removed from child training, children would develop into better happier and kinder adults. About the part in red, is it the subjunctive mood, or the simple past? My initial reaction is that the...

Yankee wrote:Hi TakaYour sentence reports what parents and psychologists thought/believed (i.e. "the idea they got"). If these parents and psycologists felt quite sure about the theory, the direct thought would have been this:"If real fear and harsh punishment are removed from child training,...

Hoa Thai wrote:"Yes, I did. But I don't know how it is related to your guess that it's, if anything, the indicative 'were'."Hi,Read it again, and you should find that, according to American Heritage, subjunctive were is hardly used now-a-days.If you rather see me show it again, here it is:" .......

Marius Hancu wrote: b) Parents and psychologists understood/comprehended/got the idea that if real fear and harsh punishment were removed from child training, children would develop into better happier and kinder adults. Now, in b), "if the fear were removed" can be thought of being...

Taka wrote: Eight-year-old Jimmy comes to school and on his face is the clear mark of a hand. if real fear and harsh punishment were removed from child training, children would develop into better happier and kinder adults. About the part in red, is it the subjunctive mood, or the simple...