In response to Martha Kolln's message (which by the
way I fully appreciate because I consult your book
often) I think you are right to ask what verb form
would appear in a declarative sentence. I hope I don't
disappoint you, though, in saying that YES I would
indeed be tempted to use the past in the subordinate
clause, but NOT when the main verb is in the present
tense.  The issue that I was trying to convey, and I
apologize if I wasn't clear about this, was that there
seems to be a difference between "would prefer" and
other types of verbs that normally take the
subjunctive.  So, if I add "would" to your sentence,
I'm very comfortable with the past verb form in the
subordinate clause.

I would prefer that we waited a little longer.

or

I would prefer that we wait a little longer.

But not

*I prefer that we waited a little longer.

You may also have misunderstood me when I wrote that I
didn't find examples in your book. I looked carefully
at your book to find an example of my first sentence
with a past verb form, but I didn't find one.  You
provide, of course, many examples of the subjunctive
in that-clauses.

Please let me clarify one more thing.  I wasn't asking
these questions to find out what people considered the
prescribed form.  I really wanted to know what people
said.  I have to admit that my role as an editor
sometimes conflicts with my training as a linguist.
As an editor, I know what to do when I'm editing:
pretend that linguistic variation doesn't exist. ;-)
But as a linguist, it doesn't bother me when two
different forms have the same function.

Kevin Lemoine

> Hi Kevin:
>
> On page 68 of Kolln & Funk, we do discuss the use of
> the subjunctive in
> that-clauses after verbs tht convey a strong
> suggestion or recommendation:
> suggest, insist, recommend.  (e.g., We suggested
> that Mary go with us.)
>
> I think that the verb prefer works the same way, and
> I suspect that if your
> questions were turned into statements, you might not
> have a question about
> it:
>
>         I prefer that we wait a little longer.
>
> I don't think you'd be tempted to use the past here,
> would you?
>
> Happy editing,
>
> Martha Kolln


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