V. VERB QUALITIES - UW-Parkside: Help for Personal Homepages

Exercise 5.01--The Flexible Indicative--The following sentences are
all in the indicative mood. Identify those which nevertheless
express commands or hypotheticals of one sort or another:
1) You must go now, or my parents will catch us.
2) If they should come home before you go, all hell will break
loose.
3) You can't leave your stuff on the floor like that.
4) Will you please pick it up?
5) Of course I wish you could stay.
6) By the way, I may have some news for you later this week.
7) I might be going to the doctor.
8) How would you feel about getting married?
9) I only meant we should be thinking about it.
10) You should hurry.
Like the imperative, the present subjunctive is expressed in modern English by using
the base form of the verb, particularly in place of the third person singular.
English has retained a few vestiges of the subjunctive mood, mainly for use in formal prose.
The present subjunctive is expressed by using the base form of the verb. When the base
form is used without a subject, however, it is always interpreted as imperative in mood. In
addition, with the exception of be, normal English verbs (i.e., indicatives) already use the
base form for the present plural and the first and second person present singular. The
subjunctive use of the base form, therefore, is distinctive only in the third person singular of
most regular verbs. Sentences (1) through (3) below show that the subjunctive can be used
in that-clauses triggered by a verb (1), an adjective (2), or noun (3) respectively:
(1) They proposed that he go to China.
(2) It is advisable that he go to China.
(3) The general gave an order that the sentry fire without asking for a
password.
Sentence (4) illustrates the subjunctive's use in certain old-fashioned formulae. Conditional
clauses like those in sentences (5) and (6) can also use the subjunctive:
(4) Be that as it may, I am going.
(5) If that be the case, I am a dead man.
(6) We must take care lest we be seen as arrogant.
In modern English, the past subjunctive is pretty much confined to uses of were when
one would otherwise use was.
Regular English verbs have no distinctive subjunctive form in the past tense. For the verb
be, the past subjective is formed by using the plural were where one would normally find the
singular was–e.g., for the first or third person past singular. This subjunctive is used in
conditional or hypothetical clauses or in clauses which follow certain verbs, like wish in
sentence (10):
(8) If I were a rich man, I wouldn't have to sing this song.
(9) He acted as though he were offended.
(10) I wish this class were over.
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