22.The Subjunctive Mood

In English grammar, the English subjunctive is the English manifestation of the subjunctive mood, a verb mood typically used in dependent clauses to express a wish, an emotion, a possibility, a judgement, an opinion, a necessity, or an action that is unlikely to occur or did not occur. It sometimes is referred to as the conjunctive mood, as it usually follows a subordinate conjunction.

Summary of forms

The subjunctive in Modern English occurs in a variety of contexts in which the form of the verb used is different from that which it normally would be, given the implied time of the action. Regardless of the subject, the form of the present subjunctive verb used to express present or past desires and the like in that clauses is the bare form of the infinitive (not preceded by "to"). Hence, the present subjunctive of "to go" is "I go", "you go", "he/she/it go", "we go", "they go". For instance: "It was required that he go to the back of the line" (compared with the indicative "Everyone knows that he went to the back of the line"); "It is required that he go to the back of the line" (compared with the indicative "Everyone knows that he goes to the back of the line").

The English subjunctive also occurs in counterfactual dependent clauses, using a form of the verb that in the indicative would indicate a time of action prior to the one implied by the subjunctive. It is called the past subjunctive when referring counterfactually to the present, and is called the pluperfect subjunctive when referring counterfactually to the past. It occurs in that clauses following the main-clause verb "wish" ("I wish that she were here now"; I wish that she had been here yesterday") and in if clauses expressing a condition that does not or did not hold ("If she were here right now, ..."; "If she had been here yesterday, ...").

A form of the subjunctive, called the future subjunctive, is used in if clauses of doubtful possibility with future reference; regardless of person and number, it uses the form "if I were to go".

Table of forms

The terms "present subjunctive" and "past subjunctive", such as appear in the following table, refer to the form and not to the time of action expressed. (Not shown in the table is the pluperfect subjunctive, which uses the had plus past participle construction when the counterfactual time of action is the past.)

	Present indicative	Present subjunctive	Past indicative	Past subjunctive	Future indicative	Future subjunctive	Present negative indicative	Present negative subjunctive
to own (example regular verb)	I own he/she/itowns we/you/they own	that I own that he/she/it own that we/you/they own	I owned he/she/it owned we/you/they owned	if I owned if he/she/it owned if we/you/they owned	I shall own he/she/itwill own we shall own you/theywill own	if I were to own if he/she/it were to own if we/you/they were to own	I do not own he/she/it does not own we/you/they do not own	that I not own that he/she/it not own that we/you/they not own
to be	I am he/she/it is we/you/theyare	that I be that he/she/it be that we/you/they be	I was he/she/itwas we/you/they were	if I were if he/she/it were if we/you/they were	I shall be he/she/itwill be we shall be you/theywill be	if I were to be if he/she/it were to be if we/you/they were to be	I am not he/she/it is not we/you/they are not	that I not be that he/she/it not be that we/you/they not be
Time of action	present or future	past, present or future	past	present	future	future	present or future	past, present or future
Usage		desire in that clauses;lest clauses		counterfactuality in if clauses or inthat clauses after wish		doubtful possibility in if clauses		desire in that clauses; "lest" clauses

As shown in the above table, the form of the subjunctive is distinguishable from the indicative in five circumstances:

1. in the third person singular of any verb in the present form;

2. in all instances of the verb "be" in the present form;

3. in the first and third persons singular of the verb "be" in the past form;

4. in all instances of all verbs in the future form; and

5. in all instances of all verbs in the present negative form.

However, even when the subjunctive and indicative forms are identical, their time references are usually different.

The verb "be" is distinctive, having a larger number of forms than other verbs, because its forms in Modern English derive from three different stems in Old English: beon (be, being, been), wesan (was, is), and waeron (am, art, are, were).^{[citation needed]}

Some modal auxiliaries have a past subjunctive form. For example, the indicative will as in He will come tomorrow has the subjunctive form would as in I wish that he would come tomorrow. Likewise, the indicative can as in He can do it now has the subjunctive form could as in I wish that he could do it now. And the indicative shall as in I shall go there has the subjunctive form should as in If I should go there,...."

In Early Modern English, the past subjunctive was distinguishable from the past indicative not only in the verb to be (as in Modern English), but also in the informal second-person singular of all verbs. For example: indicative thou sattest, but subjunctive thou sat.

Nevertheless, in some texts in which the pronoun thou is used, a final -est or -st sometimes is added;^{[clarification needed]} for example, thou beest appears frequently in the work ofShakespeare and some of his contemporaries.

Usage

To express a command, request, or suggestion

Content clauses expressing commands, requests, or suggestions commonly use the present subjunctive in US English, but this usage is now rare in speech and rare in writing in UK English. Such clauses may be introduced by a verb like propose, suggest, recommend, move (in the parliamentary sense), demand, or mandate, by an adjective like imperative, important, adamant, or necessary, or by a noun like insistence or proposal.

This use of the subjunctive is known as the mandative subjunctive or the jussive subjunctive and is said to be the commonest use of the subjunctive in English.

Note that the present subjunctive is used in these cases regardless of the actual time reference (which must be conveyed by the tense of the main verb):

I move(d) that the bill be put to a vote.

I ask(ed) that he be shown mercy.

It is (or was) necessary that we not forget our instructions. / It is (or was) necessary lest we forget our instructions.

Her insistence that he leave seems (or seemed) rude.

Some of these words have two senses in different contexts: one that introduces a clause in the indicative, and one that introduces a clause in the subjunctive. For example, insist can mean assert forcefully and persistently as a statement of fact, in which case it introduces the indicative (He insisted that he was not guilty of the charges; I insist that he is there), or it can mean demand forcefully and persistently, in which case it introduces the subjunctive (He insisted that he be found not guilty of the charges; I insist that he be there). This use of the subjunctive is standard in North American English: in formal British English some publications retain it, while others replace it with the indicative.[dubious – discuss][citation needed] The verb in such constructions sometimes is believed mistakenly to be a sort of infinitive, contributing to the notion of the dying subjunctive.

[edit]Main-clause preference words governing the subordinate-clause subjunctive

The following main-clause verbs, when expressing a desire specified in a subordinate "that" clause, often lead to the subordinate-clause verb taking the subjunctive mood: prefer, propose, request, ask, desire, advise, suggest, recommend, urge, specify, instruct, order, demand, insist, require, mandate, rule, necessitate, suffice, advocate, vote, move, would rather.

For example: I prefer that he leave.

The following main-clause nouns, when expressing a desire specified in a subordinate "that" clause, often lead to the subordinate-clause verb taking the subjunctive mood: preference, proposal, request, desire, advice, suggestion, option, alternative, recommendation, demand, requirement, necessity, imperative, condition, mandate, specification, rule, ruling, edict, instruction, principle, prerequisite, order, qualification, ultimatum, vote, motion.

For example: It is my preference that he leave. / My preference is that he leave.

The following main-clause adjectives, when following a stative verb such as "to be" or "to appear", and when expressing a desire specified in a subordinate "that" clause, often lead to the subordinate-clause verb taking the subjunctive mood: preferable, optional, permissible, acceptable, okay, all right, satisfactory, desirable, advisable, sufficient, necessary, imperative, mandatory, important, urgent, vital, crucial, essential, fitting, right, appropriate, better, expedient, legitimate.

For example: It is preferable that he leave.

[edit]Third person requests with a main-clause subjunctive

Sometimes the verb of a main clause can be in the subjunctive mood, without any explicit word like the above; this carries the force of a third-person request. This is the usage found in many set expressions, such as God bless you.

America, America, God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood ("America the Beautiful")

God save our gracious Queen

The traditional English text of the Aaronic blessing is cast entirely in the subjunctive, with jussive force:

The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His face to shine upon thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace.

While such constructions are sometimes viewed as third-person imperatives rather than subjunctives, they are similar to subjunctive "may" constructions such as May God bless you, May God shed His grace on thee, and May God save the Queen.

[edit]To express a wish

The subjunctive is known as the "volitional" subjunctive when it is used to express a wish. A wish for a past or present event is contrary to fact, while a wish for the future either is impossible or has a very low probability.

The past subjunctive is used after the verb to wish to express that the wished-for event would occur at the same time as the wish: I wish (now) that he were here (now); I wished (in the past) that he were here (at that time in the past). With this use of the past subjunctive, the time of the wished-for action is conveyed by the tense of the main-clause verb. The subjunctive form of the modal can is could, as in I wish (now) that I could swim (now) (= I wish (now) that I were able to swim (now)) and I wished (in the past) that I could swim (in the past) (=I wished (in the past) that I were able to swim (in the past)).

To express a wish for something to have occurred prior to the time that the wish is made, the past subjunctive is used: I wish (now) that he had been here (at a time in the past); I wished (at a time in the past) that he had been here (prior to that time in the past).

To express a present or past wish for a later occurrence, one uses the subjunctive form would of the future modal will: I wish (now) that he would come here (in the future); I wished (in the past) that he would come here (at a time after the wish was made, either before or after the present).

The main-clause verb wish expresses a counterfactual — something that is not actually the case — while by comparison the main-clause verb hope expresses something that has a possibility of being true. Therefore, while wish governs the use of the subjunctive in the subordinate clause, hope governs the use of the indicative. For example:

I wish that he were there (right now). (But he is not.)

I hope that he is there (right now). (Maybe he is.)

[edit]To express a counterfactual hypothesis

The past subjunctive is used after the conjunction if, and after the conjunction "that" when the main-clause verb is "suppose", in a present-time contrary-to-fact and contrary-to-possibility protasis. For example:

If I were a millionaire, I would buy a sports car.

If he had a car with him, he could drive us there.

If I were a rich man...

Suppose that I were there now.

In the same vein, the past subjunctive is used following the conjunctions as if and as though to express a contrary-to-fact situation that reality is supposed to resemble:

She looks as though she were going to kill him.

He is trying to explain it — as if he knew anything about the subject!

The pluperfect subjunctive is used after the conjunction if, and after the conjunction "that" when the main-clause verb is "suppose", in a past-time contrary-to-fact and contrary-to-possibility protasis. For example:

If I had been a millionaire, I would have bought a sports car.

If he had had a car with him, he could have driven us there.

Suppose that I had been there last week.

[edit]To express a purpose

The conjunction lest, indicating a negative purpose, generally introduces a subjunctive clause:

I eat lest I die.

I shall place the book back on the shelf, lest it be lost.

The conjunction in order that, indicating a positive purpose, also sometimes introduces a subjunctive clause, though it more commonly introduces a clause using the auxiliary verb may (or in the subjunctive, might):

I am putting your dinner in the oven in order that it (may) keep warm.

He wrote it in his diary in order that he (might) remember.

[edit]To express a doubt or supposition

The future subjunctive is used to express hypothetical future situations that are possible but doubtful :

I am torn; if I were to go with choice A, I would be better off in the short term, but if I were to go with choice B, I might be better off in the long term.

Suppose that I were to go there.

The present subjunctive sometimes is used after other conjunctions to express doubt or supposition, although nowadays the indicative oftener replaces this usage.

I will not let thee go, except [=unless] thou bless me. (Genesis 32:26)

Murder, though it have no tongue, will speak.

Whoever he be, he shall not go unpunished.

Fee, fie, fo, fum / I smell the blood of an Englishman; / Be he alive or be he dead, / I'll grind his bones to make my bread. (Jack and the Beanstalk)

If I be found guilty, I shall be given the maximum punishment.

I shall not do it unless [or until] I be told to do it.

Whether he vote for this or not (If he vote for it or if he not vote for it), we must proceed with the plan.

(No matter) whether they be tall or short, they must be treated the same.

I want you to give this money to him so that he have enough for lunch. (the conjunction "so that" takes a subjunctive in formal English)

Rarely, the past subjunctive is used after other conjunctions to express doubt or supposition:

But [=although] he were dead, yet shall he live. (New Testament)

[edit]Set phrases

The subjunctive is used in a number of fixed phrases, relics from an older form of the language where it was much more common. Some could be alternatively analyzed as the imperative mood, but those have related forms involving the insertion of "may" (e.g., "May God bless you") that are clearly subjunctive. Common examples are:

if need be

as it were

if I were you; were I you

be that as it may

(God) bless you!

come Monday (Tuesday, etc.)

come what may

far be it from (or for) me

be it ever so humble, there's no place like home (proverb)

However, many fossil phrases seemingly employing the subjunctive often are re-analysed as imperative forms rather than as the subjunctive.

Hyperusage

The subjunctive sometimes has been used simply as a conditioned variant that follows "if" and similar words even in the absence of a hypothetical situation.

Johnny asked me if I were afraid. (Barbara in Night of the Living Dead (1968))

In the hypercorrection example quoted, "if" is a substitute for the unambiguous word "whether" (as in "Johnny asked me whether I was afraid"); in this case, "if" lacks the usual "in the event that" meaning that it has in other usages (as in "If we go to bed now, we shall be up at three o'clock"). In fact, such usage is quite old; for example:

... he asked me if I were about to return to London ... (Mary Shelley The Last Man (1833)

He asked me if I were a Priest. (The Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine Vol. 3, Dec. (1824)