Subjunctive

Question 1

What is subjunctive?

Answer 1

The subjunctive are used to convey conditions, wishes(those likely to come true and improbable ones), order, recommendation, suggestion.

Question 2

Do we use singular verbs or plural verbs with subjunctive?

Answer 2

We always use plural verbs

a. The High court ordered that the defendant pay the fines

“the defendant” is singular but we still have used plural verb “pay”

b. The board recommended that the school establish an independent committee to deal with student complaints

“the school” is singular but “establish” is plural

Also note that the subjunctive is always in present form, never use any other tense with subjunctive

Question 3

Observe the below sentence

The school comitte mandated that the school is to be opened after 2nd week of Christmas

Answer 3

Notice the use of subjunctive “mandated”. In subjunctive we cannot use verbs like is, we need to use the verb be. The correct sentence is

The school comitte mandated that the school be opened after 2nd week of Christmas

Question 4

Construction 1 of subjunctive

Directive word + that + subject + subjunctive verb(plural present)

Answer 4

Examples of construction 1 is

a. Ordered that defendant pay the fine
b. Mandated that school be opened after Xmas

Please note that the subjunctive form should also be used with noun form of the word i.e. with both suggested and suggestion

1. The board suggested that the school establish an independent committee to deal with student complaints
2. It was the board suggestion that the school establish an independent committee to deal with student complaints

Question 5

What are the rules pertaining to “should” and “to verb” in subjunctive?

Answer 5

The directive words such as mandated, ordered, recommended essentially means “should/need to/must”, so these are inherent in the meaning already. Thus repeating the words lead to redundancy

1. The school comitte mandated that the school should be opened after 2nd week of Christmas
2. The school comitte mandated that the school to be opened after 2nd week of Christmas
3. The school comitte mandated that the school should be opened after 2nd week of Christmas

Sentence 1 and 2 are incorrect in above construction as they use should and to be form that are not required in the subjunctive words

4. The High court ordered that the defendant pay the fines (Correct)
5. The High court ordered that the defendant should pay the fines (Incorrect)

Question 6

Please carefully observe few words.

Answer 6

There are few words that look like subjunctive but should not be used in that form and should be used wit to form. e.g

Advise, want, forbid, persuade, convince

The lawyer advised that the couple agree to an out of court settlement (Incorrect use of subjunctive)

The lawyer advised the couple agree to an out of court settlement (Correct, notw we haven’t use subjunctive)

Question 7

There are few words that can be used either in subjunctive or normal

Answer 7

1. The HIgh court ordered the defandant to pay the fine
2. The high court ordered that the defendant pay fine

If that is present then then use subjunctive else do not