“SUBJUNCTIVE”
Subjunctive
is used to emphasize urgency or importance. It is used after certain
expressions (see below). It is a verb mood typically used in subordinate
clauses to express a wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion.
1.
Subjunctive wish
Future
Patern
|
S1 + wish (that) + S2 +
|
Could + V1/be
Would + V1/be
Were + V-ing
Example:
-
I wish you would stop
saying that.
-
We wish that you
could come to my house tonight.
Present
Patern
|
S1 + wish (that) +
S2 + V2/were
|
Example:
-
We wish that you were
enough to come with us.
-
They wish they didn’t
have to go to class today.
|
S1 + wish (that) S2
+ Past Tense expresses regret about present situation
|
Example:
-
I wish that you had
come here yesterday.
-
I wish he was coming
wiyh us.
Past
Patern
|
S1 + wished (that) + S2 + had V3/could have V3
|
Example:
-
She wished that she
had had more time last night.
-
He wished he knew the
address.
2.
Subjunctive as if/as though
The past subjunctive can be used after as if/as though to indicate unreality or improbability or doubt in
the present.
Present
Example:
-
The old lady dresses
as if it were winter now even in summer.
-
Bill has been working
in this bookstore for years and now he acts as if he were the owner.
-
He talks as though he
knew where she was.
Past
Example:
-
Jeff locked as if he
had seen a ghost.
-
He looked as though
he hadn’t had a decent meal for a month.
3.
Subjunctive would rather
Present
Example:
-
Jane would rather it
were winter now.
Past
Example:
-
Jim would rather that
Jill had gone to class yesterday.
-
She would rather that
you had studied harder.
