How to Form the Subjunctive of English Verbs: Using amp; Declining the Subjeunctive Mood of Verbs

Grammatical mood will be the expression of modality, which is the term for possibility, necessity, and contingency. The subjunctive mood of verbs in English expresses commands, doubts, guesses, hypotheses, purposes, requests, suggestions, and wishes which might be contrary to fact at the time of the utterance.
All kinds of the subjunctive mood in English bear much resemblance to the corresponding types of the indicative mood. In fact, the subjunctive is merely distinguishable in form in the indicative inside the third person singular present tense forms along with forms that want the verb be because the initial verb with 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 for that verb be, regular verbs, and irregular verbs. Note that the verbs highlighted in yellow differ completely from your indicative forms, the verbs highlighted in green differ only from your indicative forms in the third person singular, and the verbs not highlighted is the same to the indicative forms. The verb be and similar intransitive verbs don't have subjunctive passive forms.





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For example:




Unlike the indicative mood, the subjunctive mood often appears in subordinate clauses. Also known as dependent clauses, subordinate clauses contain both a topic and a predicate but cannot be complete sentences. Many in the verb phrases inside the subjunctive mood inside previous examples begin with the subordinating conjunction if. Noun clauses that commence with if tend to be 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, in the sentence If the driveway were being resealed, then I would park traveling, my parking on the road is contingent upon the driveway being resealed.
However, its not all dependent clauses that express possibility, necessity, and contingency begin with the subordinating conjunction if. For example, the boy not failing the exam was contingent on his studying as expressed within the sentence Had the boy been studying while he said, he'd not have failed test. The noun clause Had the boy been studying while he said is often a subordinate clause which contains the subjunctive mood. This noun clause may be written as If the boy had been studying while he said by having an if introducing the clause. However, in English, the if in the if clause can be removed so long since the first auxiliary verb switches places while using subject. Therefore, the if clause If the driveway were being resealed may be 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 in the most common English verbs that make subjunctive mood within the following noun clause include:


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

The conjugated verb phrase carrying out a modal verb is additionally always in the 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 1st example, Beyonc?? uses the subjunctive mood of the verb be inside if clause If I were a boy. The use in the subjunctive inside clause If I were a boy expresses contingency; if Beyonc?? were male as an alternative to female, she would perform the things she lists. However, she is not male, so she uses the subjunctive to state an idea that is despite fact during the statement. In the second example, however, Gwen Stefani uses the indicative form in the verb take place of the subjunctive form in two if clauses: If I would be a rich girl if I was obviously a wealthy girl. She is still expressing uncertain modality (she would just have Whatsapp usa all the money within the world inside the event that she were rich) but runs on the form with the verb that is identical towards the indicative.

Many native English speakers similarly use indicative forms to state the subjunctive mood. For example, a speaker who says His parents insist that he eats all his vegetables before his dessert is expressing subjunctivity but is using the indicative form in the verb (eats) as opposed to the subjunctive form (eat). The decline in the subjunctive in English is much more apparent and inevitable given that about half with the subjunctive forms happen to be identical for the indicative forms. The subjunctive ended up working is indistinguishable in form in the indicative have been working. In fact, the use of subjunctive forms is merely required inside most formal registers of English usage. Language change is inevitable, and distinct subjunctive forms may soon disappear through the English language.
For facts about other verb forms in English, please see the article The English Verb System for ESL Students.