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 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com