「How to Form the Subjunctive of English Verbs: Using amp; Declining the Subjeunctive Mood of Verbs」の版間の差分

2016年7月27日 (水) 20:01時点における版

Grammatical mood may be the expression of modality, which identifies possibility, necessity, and contingency. The subjunctive mood of verbs in English expresses commands, doubts, guesses, hypotheses, purposes, requests, suggestions, and wishes that are contrary to fact during the time of the utterance.
All types of the subjunctive mood in English bear much resemblance to the corresponding types of the indicative mood. In fact, the subjunctive is distinguishable in form in the indicative within the third person singular present tense forms and in forms that want the verb be as the initial verb in the verb phrase. The following verb chart outlines the verb phrase patterns to the subjunctive mood:

The following chart provides examples in the subjunctive mood to the verb be, regular verbs, and irregular verbs. Note that the verbs highlighted in yellow differ completely from the indicative forms, the verbs highlighted in green differ only through the indicative forms inside the third person singular, and the verbs not highlighted are similar to the indicative forms. The verb be and other intransitive verbs will not have subjunctive passive forms.

For example:




Unlike the indicative mood, the subjunctive mood often appears in subordinate clauses. Also known as dependent clauses, subordinate clauses contain both a subject matter and a predicate but cannot function as complete sentences. Many in the verb phrases inside the subjunctive mood within the previous examples start with the subordinating conjunction if. Noun clauses that commence with if in many cases are referred to as if clauses. The subjunctive mood in English most often appears in if clauses because such clauses always express possibility, necessity, and contingency. For example, inside the sentence If the driveway were being resealed, then I would park on the highway, my parking while travelling is contingent upon the driveway being resealed.
However, not every dependent clauses that express possibility, necessity, and contingency commence with the subordinating conjunction if. For example, the boy not failing test was contingent on his studying as expressed inside the sentence Had the boy been studying while he said, he would not have failed quality. The noun clause Had the boy been studying because he said is a subordinate clause that contains the subjunctive mood. This noun clause could also be written as If the boy had been studying while he said with the if introducing the clause. However, in English, the if from the if clause is easy to remove so long because the first auxiliary verb switches places while using subject. Therefore, the if clause If the driveway were being resealed you may also have written as Were the driveway being resealed without eliminating the subjunctive mood.
The subjunctive mood also appears in a verb phrase after a modal verb.

In addition to appearing in if clauses, the subjunctive mood also follows certain verbs and phrases that express possibility, necessity, and contingency. For example, some of the most common English verbs that go ahead and take subjunctive mood within the following noun clause include:


Some in the most common English phrases that also take the subjunctive mood within the following noun clause include:

The conjugated verb phrase after a modal verb is additionally always inside a present subjunctive form.

Unlike in other contemporary Indo-European languages for example Spanish and German, modern English is quickly losing distinct verb forms inside the subjunctive mood. Take for example the subsequent two English song lyrics:


In the first example, Beyonc?? uses the subjunctive mood with the verb be in the if clause If I were a boy. The use of the Whatsapp usa subjunctive within the clause If I were a boy expresses contingency; if Beyonc?? were male as an alternative to female, she would perform things she lists. However, jane is not male, so she uses the subjunctive expressing an idea that is as opposed to fact at the time of the statement. In the second example, however, Gwen Stefani uses the indicative form with the verb have place from the subjunctive form in two if clauses: If I was a rich girl of course, if I was a wealthy girl. She is still expressing uncertain modality (she would only have all the money inside the world inside event that she were rich) but utilizes a form in the verb that is certainly identical towards the indicative.

Many native English speakers similarly use indicative forms to express the subjunctive mood. For example, a speaker who says His parents insist that they eats all his vegetables before his dessert is expressing subjunctivity but is utilizing the indicative form of the verb (eats) as opposed to the subjunctive form (eat). The decline from the subjunctive in English is even more apparent and inevitable due to the fact about half with the subjunctive forms already are identical towards the indicative forms. The subjunctive was working is indistinguishable in form in the indicative have been working. In fact, the usage of subjunctive forms is only required within the most formal registers of English usage. Language change is inevitable, and all sorts of distinct subjunctive forms may soon disappear in the English language.
For information about other verb forms in English, please look at article The English Verb System for ESL Students.