Excellent example, Larry!
Apo
The subjunctive mood in English - once more with feeling
That sounds very unnatural to me. It needs a should or a could before 'make'.Does this qualify as the subjunctive?
Based on our recent experience in the Suggest a Good Word forum . . .Oh,would that Congress make Spamming a capital crime, or at least life in solitary 24x7 . . .
And my guess is that the latest registered user, 28f8fcfc03e6f8de0edf88555, isn't here to truly participate in the forum, either, just like those other spammers!
-Tim
-
- Great Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 2578
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:56 pm
- Location: Crownsville, MD
Yeah, on reflection I think it should have been:
I just finished cleaning out one of my older EMail accounts. Several thousand messages backed up, only a handful not Spam.Oh,would that Congress made Spamming a capital crime, or at least life in solitary 24x7 . . .
Regards//Larry
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
And my guess is that the latest registered user, 28f8fcfc03e6f8de0edf88555, isn't here to truly participate in the forum, either, just like those other spammers!
-Tim[/quote]
I hope for his sake he's selected the option "Remember my ID on this computer".
-Tim[/quote]
I hope for his sake he's selected the option "Remember my ID on this computer".
Spaceman Spiff
"The capacity for humankind to centralize its importance in the grand scheme of things is quite impressive."
- Tim Ward
"The capacity for humankind to centralize its importance in the grand scheme of things is quite impressive."
- Tim Ward
I've always wondered whether "were" in something like "I wish I were rich" really was the subjunctive. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language calls this the irrealis.
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/language ... 01192.html
"were" in "I wish I were rich" or "If I were taller" isn't the past form of "be". That is, "if I were" is not the past of "if I be".
Replace "were" with any other verb, and the simple past tense is used: "I wish I had a million dollars."
So this "were" construction isn't the subjunctive, it's a separate form only used with "be", which linguists call the irrealis.
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/language ... 01192.html
"were" in "I wish I were rich" or "If I were taller" isn't the past form of "be". That is, "if I were" is not the past of "if I be".
Replace "were" with any other verb, and the simple past tense is used: "I wish I had a million dollars."
So this "were" construction isn't the subjunctive, it's a separate form only used with "be", which linguists call the irrealis.
-
- Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 1476
- Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
- Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval
the topic title here reminded me of this old joke:
A businessman from Chicago goes on a trip to Boston. He's never been there before, so a co-worker tells him he must sample the seafood. "Go down to the wharf and try the scrod" he tells him.
So the businessman gets off the plane in Boston and hails a cab. As they're nearing the hotel he asks his driver, "say do you know a good place to get scrod around here?" Cabdriver turns with an astonished look: "Sir, I've heard that question a million times but you're the first one who put it in the pluperfect subjunctive."
A businessman from Chicago goes on a trip to Boston. He's never been there before, so a co-worker tells him he must sample the seafood. "Go down to the wharf and try the scrod" he tells him.
So the businessman gets off the plane in Boston and hails a cab. As they're nearing the hotel he asks his driver, "say do you know a good place to get scrod around here?" Cabdriver turns with an astonished look: "Sir, I've heard that question a million times but you're the first one who put it in the pluperfect subjunctive."
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 22 guests