Death of the subjunctive
April 19th 2008 18:47
Do you remember this song? (Warning! 90s pop flashback!)
The title and refrain of that (in)famous song is "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover", which shows that whatever mood Sophie's in, it sure isn't subjunctive. Certain forms of the subjunctive mood are rarely used anymore, and if you're a native English speaker who went to elementary school in the last twenty years, it's possible that you've never even heard of it (or have only heard of it through foreign language studies).* Yet most people use the subjunctive mood without even knowing it.
Consider the explanation and examples from the The Chicago Manual of Style:
"The subjunctive mood expresses an action or state not as a reality but as a mental conception. Typically, this means that the subjunctive expresses an action or state as doubtful, imagined, desired, conditional, or otherwise contrary to fact {if I were wealthy, I could travel} {I wish I had some alternatives}. It also often expresses a suggestion {I suggest that you be early} or a requirement {the requirement that all exams be completed by 2:00 p.m.}. The subjunctive appears in the base form of the verb (be in the example just given), instead of an inflected form. Note that not every if takes a subjunctive verb: when the action or state might be true but the writer does not know, the indicative is called for {if I am right about this, please call} {if Napoleon was in fact poisoned with arsenic, historians will need to reconsider his associates}."
In other words, according to the CMS and other traditional sources, Sophie should've sung, "Damn, I wish I were your lover." I think this is the most common mistake with subjunctive mood: people don't use "were" because it seems to contradict the singular "I".
Though this form of the subjunctive mood is fading from use, it still exists--as it should, I believe--in formal writing and some literary writing. It's all but disappeared from most informal writing and conversation. When was the last time you heard, or said, something like, "If it was me, I would have taken the blue pill"? Moreover, the wording of that phrase may not even sound that wrong to you. Technically, it's incorrect, but I wouldn't go grammar nazi on it, and I'd accept it in all but the most formal of situations.
* I base my statement on the fact that in the 80s, when I was in elementary school, I didn't receive much of a formal education in English grammar. Through questioning other people, I found that (on the average) people around my age had the same experiences. This might be a North American trend, however.
The title and refrain of that (in)famous song is "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover", which shows that whatever mood Sophie's in, it sure isn't subjunctive. Certain forms of the subjunctive mood are rarely used anymore, and if you're a native English speaker who went to elementary school in the last twenty years, it's possible that you've never even heard of it (or have only heard of it through foreign language studies).* Yet most people use the subjunctive mood without even knowing it.
Consider the explanation and examples from the The Chicago Manual of Style:
"The subjunctive mood expresses an action or state not as a reality but as a mental conception. Typically, this means that the subjunctive expresses an action or state as doubtful, imagined, desired, conditional, or otherwise contrary to fact {if I were wealthy, I could travel} {I wish I had some alternatives}. It also often expresses a suggestion {I suggest that you be early} or a requirement {the requirement that all exams be completed by 2:00 p.m.}. The subjunctive appears in the base form of the verb (be in the example just given), instead of an inflected form. Note that not every if takes a subjunctive verb: when the action or state might be true but the writer does not know, the indicative is called for {if I am right about this, please call} {if Napoleon was in fact poisoned with arsenic, historians will need to reconsider his associates}."
In other words, according to the CMS and other traditional sources, Sophie should've sung, "Damn, I wish I were your lover." I think this is the most common mistake with subjunctive mood: people don't use "were" because it seems to contradict the singular "I".
Though this form of the subjunctive mood is fading from use, it still exists--as it should, I believe--in formal writing and some literary writing. It's all but disappeared from most informal writing and conversation. When was the last time you heard, or said, something like, "If it was me, I would have taken the blue pill"? Moreover, the wording of that phrase may not even sound that wrong to you. Technically, it's incorrect, but I wouldn't go grammar nazi on it, and I'd accept it in all but the most formal of situations.
* I base my statement on the fact that in the 80s, when I was in elementary school, I didn't receive much of a formal education in English grammar. Through questioning other people, I found that (on the average) people around my age had the same experiences. This might be a North American trend, however.
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