Summary
The Court of Peeves, Crotchets & Irks resumes its autumn assizes with a petition from Louis Mason of Glendale, Ariz. He asks for a declaratory judgment on the viability of the subjunctive mood. Is it still alive in English composition?
The court has felt the pulse of the subjunctive annually for the past 25 years, and listened to its breathing and asked it to stick out its tongue, and every year the diagnosis remains unchanged: The subjunctive lives! It survives in half a dozen useful ways. Speaking of conditions contrary to fact, we say, "If I were in your shoes ..." We express hope: "The king wishes he were in Scotland fishing tonight." The subjunctive mood appears in suggestions and proposals: "The menu committee urges that the pudding be basted with gin."See the full content of this document
Extract
Order in Court of Peeves!
In such light winds as "be that as it may" and "as it were," the subjunctive sails sweetly on the waves of cultivated speech. The court would...
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