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Iâm feeling moody today. It doesnât help that TV seems to be nothing but re-runs. Heaven help us, even C-Span seems to be re-runs this week.
Well, since re-runs are everywhere, Iâll continue the trend and talk some more about verbs in this monthâs newsletter since that was so popular last month. What? You didnât like it? Be that as it may, thatâs what youâre going to get. This month, Iâm going to talk about a verbâs mood. When weâre done, youâll know which of the following is correct and why.
If it wasnât for your directions, I wouldnât have gotten lost.
If it werenât for your directions, I wouldnât have gotten lost.
Sorry, thatâs the best hook I can come up with.
Unless youâre a grammar geek, I bet you didnât know verbs could be moody. Most of the time, a verbâs mood is indicative. Thatâs a nice, friendly mood where the verb expresses a fact or opinion or maybe asks a question about facts or opinions. âThey voted againâ is an example. âThey voted stubbornlyâ is another, the former expressing a fact and the second an opinion. âHow did they voteâ is a third example, asking a question about a fact or opinion.
Other times verbs are in an imperative moodâthey give a command. âVote now,â is one example. However, imperative verbs are sometimes polite, as in âPlease vote for me,â making a direct request, or âYou may vote now,â granting permission. Note that the subjectââyouââis implied in these constructions. Other times, the subject might be given, as in âKevin, stop that.â Note that âKevinâ is not the subject of this sentence--itâs a direct address.
About 99% of the time, verbs are either indicative or imperative. That other 1% is where it gets complicated. Thatâs also where it gets interesting, or at least confusing.
Consider phrases like âHeaven help usâ or âbe that as it may,â both of which appeared above. These are examples of a verb in a subjunctive mood. Subjunctive verbs are kind of bashful and donât show up too often. When they do, they are often counterfactual, i.e., statements contrary to fact, or at least statements in the absence of fact. They speculate about things that might be true.
Subjunctive mood is uncommon, but weâre all familiar with it. For example, when Topol sings, âIf I were a rich man...â in Fiddler on the Roof, heâs expressing a conjecture, i.e., heâs using âwereâ in subjunctive mood. If your landlord says, âThat dog has to go,â sheâs making a demand that the facts change, again subjunctive mood. If your boss says, âyou need to take some time off,â thatâs a suggestion about changing what youâre doing, so itâs again subjunctive.
Subjunctive moods come in three flavors, present, past, and past perfect. In almost all cases, subjunctive verbs pair with a form of the verb âto be.â
Present subjunctive is the easiest. If you write, âHe recommends that they be prepared to vote at any time,â youâre using subjunctive present. Here, âbe preparedâ is not passive voice, which we covered last month. Itâs part of a conjectural statement about unknown facts, hence subjunctive. The conjectural character is clear when compared with the sentence, âHe is prepared to vote at any time,â which uses âpreparedâ to indicate a known state of being. Present subjective pairs the verbâs past tense with the present tense of âto be.â
Past subjunctive refers to something in the present or future (no one ever said grammar made sense), and always uses were regardless of how many subjects are involved, so the form is usually
if [subject] were [some state or action]
Thus, the sentence
If Sally were safe at home
conjectures that Sally is not at home and probably not safe. The word if often appears when using present subjunctive.
Admittedly, past subjunctive mood and imperative mood are easy to confuse. Consider, the two sentences at the start of this blog.
If it wasnât for your directions, I wouldnât have gotten lost.
If it werenât for your directions, I wouldnât have gotten lost.
The initial phrase is speculation, which means the verb should be subjunctive. Thus, the correct verb mood in the first clause is âwerenâtâ not âwasnâtâ even though the subject, âit,â is singular. The second sentence is correct, the first is not. The mood in the second clause is left as an exercise for the reader.
Past perfect subjunctive adds yet another wrinkle. This is a conjectural statement that refers to something in the past. It uses the base verbâs past perfect form to refer to a counter-factual statement about the past. Thatâs clear, right?
For example
If only I had discussed past perfect tense first, this would make more sense.
Weâll talk about tense in a later post, but the above example shows past perfect subjunctive in action. The conjecture is about a past event, so we use the past perfect tense of âdiscuss;â âhad discussedâ indicates the past perfect subjunctive mood.
You canât do past perfect mode without using the word âhad.â Thatâs because you canât do past perfect tense without âhad.â
Sometimes youâll see lists of words to avoid. These are almost always useful things, and often include non-specific adjectives like âlarge,â or âsmall,â or adverbs like âvery.â But they sometimes also include words like âhad.â Itâs true that âhadâ can take the readers out of the here-and-now of ongoing events. Thatâs generally a bad idea. But sometimes, as in the use of subjunctive mood, you canât avoid the word âhad.â Your character might need to express regret, for example, and think, âIf only I had not made that deal with Mephistopheles,â or âif only I had paid the insurance.â
Thatâs it for this month. If I decide to continue this series, a verbâs tense is up next. Thereâs twelve of these little things altogether. I donât know about you, but just thinking about that makes me tense.
---------------------------------
References
Paragraphs 5.123-5.127 of the Chicago Manual of Style
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For Authors: January 11, 2023 Issue [#11747]
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