"Subjunctive" is one of those terms that causes endless confusion among
students of grammar and pointless dispute among grammarians. In most
languages the term is used to identify an inflectional category of the
verb, as in the Latin "porto" (I carry)
Indicative Subjunctive
1s porto portem
2s portas portes
3s portat portet
1p portamus portemus
2p portatis portetis
3p portant portent
a category of forms used in unfulfilled conditions, counterfactuals, and
other irrealis constructions.
The forms sometimes called "subjunctive" in English, namely, bare forms
and "were," are indistinguishable morphologically from infinitives,
imperatives, and non-third-person present forms in the former case and
the past plural of "be" in the latter. So we don't have a form of the
verb that can be identified as subjunctive. We have constructions that
are used where Old English other languages use subjunctive inflection,
but these are syntactic structures, not morphological contrasts.
"If it were raining" is counterfactual, as is "Were it raining."
"I demand that the prisoners be released" has a tenseless, irrealis
clause, a clause describing something that has not happened.
Constructions like these have a modal quality of unreality, or irrealis,
in grammatical terms, but to call them subjunctive is to preserve a
label for a form the language has long since lost.
Old English didn't even have much of a subjunctive. Unlike the present
indicative paradigm, which has separate forms for 1/2/3 sg., the
subjunctive paradigm uses the 1s indicative form for all persons in the
singular and adds the preterite plural suffix -n for all persons in the
plural. See the paradigms for "ridan" (to ride). I've left out vowel
length marking for both Latin and Old English.
Indicative Subjunctive
1s ride ride
2s ridest ride
3s rideth ride
1p ridath riden
2p ridath riden
3p ridath riden
Modern English has no subjunctive and didn't have much subjunctive to
lose in the first place. It can, however, use syntactic constructions
to say anything that languages that have a subjunctive can say.
Herb
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Karl Hagen
Sent: 2008-03-13 18:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Subjunctive
The subjunctive has been disappearing from our language for a very long
time. Grammarians have complained that its use has been declining at
least as far back as Priestly in the 18th century.
I doubt there's really been much of a change in at least the last 100
years. It's rare in speech, but still maintained in more formal writing.
This really isn't an issue of active language change as much as it is of
different registers, each of which has remained fairly stable for a long
time.
It's also worth noting that the so-called present subjunctive is alive
and well in mandative contexts (e.g., "The teacher required that her
students be polite").
Karl
Veit, Richard wrote:
> That fact that half of a group of educated speakers did not use the
> subjunctive to describe a hypothetical situation is more evidence
> suggesting that the subjunctive is disappearing from our language.
>
> Dick Veit
>
> ________________________________
>
> Richard Veit
> Department of English
> University of North Carolina Wilmington
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Linda Di Desidero
> Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 9:36 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Subjunctive
>
> At a recent (large) faculty meeting, one of the administrators ran a
> 'warm-up' activity. The idea was for faculty members to stand up,
> introduce themselves, and talk about what they would be doing on a
> Saturday morning if they were not attending this meeting.
>
> I kept track: At least half of the speakers said "If I was not here"
> while almost half said "If I were not here." I was surprised, given
> that this was an educated group of people and the speaking occasion
was
> not all that informal.
>
> Oh, the things we find to interest ourselves!
>
> Linda
>
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------
>
> Linda Di Desidero, Ph.D.
>
> Associate Professor
>
> Assistant Academic Director of Writing
>
> Communication, Arts, and Humanities
>
> University of Maryland University College
>
> 3501 University Boulevard East
>
> Adelphi, MD 20783-8083
>
>
>
> (240) 582-2830
>
> (240) 582-2993 (fax)
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathleen M. Ward
> Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 1:47 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Subjunctive
>
> Well, it does, of course (she should have said "If Obama were a white
> man") but the subjunctive has been disappearing from English for
> centuries now. I think it has become pretty rare in speech. (I
> take it that this was an interview quotation?)
>
> Kathleen Ward
> UC Davis
>
>
> On Mar 12, 2008, at 9:30 AM, DD Farms wrote:
>
>> DD: Am I a bit confused? Consider the quote from Geraldine Ferraro,
>> [NYT 12 Mar 08, Maureen Dowd.] "If Obama was a white man, he would
not
>
>> be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color), he would
>> not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is.
>> And the country is caught up in the concept." I thought High
Standard
>
>> English required the use of the subjunctive in stating a condition
>> contrary to fact.
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