Dick,
But isn’t “she” subject of “were” here, with SVI? While this is
a conditional use of “were,” the structure is analogous to “She was to leave.”
Herb
From: Assembly for the
Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Veit,
Richard
Sent: 2008-04-10 11:16
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Odd sentence
Herb,
The
following would seem to be an exception to the claim that the actor of a
nonfinite verb is never nominative:
Were she to leave, everyone would panic.
Dick
________________________________
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 STAHLKE, HERBERT F
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 9:38 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Odd sentence
I think an argument for that the subjunctive with
"suggest" is a finite
clause is that it takes a nominative subject
pronoun. Nonfinite clauses
take objective case or, with -ing forms, objective or
genitive.
I suggest that she leave earlier.
I encouraged her to leave earlier.
I was surprised at her/him/his leaving early.
Herb
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Spruiell,
William C
Sent: 2008-04-09 18:56
Subject: Re: Odd sentence
I'd treat that as a subjunctive -- there's the "If I
were president"
type, and the "I suggested she be hired" type,
and this looks like a
version of the latter, albeit in a nominal that-clause.
That's actually
dodging your question a bit, though. For the first type
of subjunctive,
one can argue for finiteness on the basis of the fact
that the
subjunctive form can occur before the verb, and that kind
of "inversion"
is characteristic of finite forms (but auxiliaries, in
non-subjunctive
examples). Instead of "If I were president..."
one can opt for the
hyperformal "Were I president..." variant.
I can't think of anything similar one can do with the
suggest-type
subjunctive that would prove it's finite, unless you're
willing to
accept the claim that its presence in a nominal
that-clause is
sufficient proof of finiteness. That feels a bit
circular, somehow -- it
rests on the assumption that a non-finite that-clause is
impossible,
when someone could simply argue that this is an example
of just such a
thing.
Bill Spruiell
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Castilleja, Janet
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 5:49 PM
Subject: Odd sentence
Hi
What do you folks make of this sentence? Is the
clause that begins
'that the Greek colonies..." finite or
non-finite? I think it is
non-finite, but I'm wavering a little.
When they reached the coast of Asia Minor,
they insisted that the
Greek colonies of Lydia recognize the Persian Kings as
their over- Lords
and pay them a stipulated tax.
Thanks
Janet Castilleja
Heritage University
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