The Subjunctive Mood

Let’s start with a warning: the subjective mood isn’t something that most people need to be concerned with. It’s difficult to learn and, anyway, isn’t often used in everyday speech. You only really need to know about it if it’s included in your examination syllabus, or if you’re really keen to know about all the complicated and confusing aspects of the English language.

There are three main “moods” in the English language: indicative, imperative and subjunctive.

The indicative mood is concerned with facts or beliefs:

• My name is Graham.
• He sings well.
• She is a fast runner.
• We will go to heaven.

The imperative mood is concerned with instructions:

• Shut the door!
• Sit down!
• Let me have a rest.

Note that we otften omit the pronoun “you”: “(You) sit down”. Also that we often follow the imperative mood by an exclamation mark: (!).

The subjunctive mood is concerned mainly with suggestions, requests, wishes or hypothetical situations.

Uses of the subjunctive

There are three main uses of the subjunctive:

1             The subjunctive mood often follows certain main verbs, particularly: recommend, suggest, demand, request and insist. In these cases it is the same as the infinitive but without the “to”: 

• I recommend that the class spend more time studying English grammar.
• I suggest that you sit down.
• She demanded that he pay attention.
• He insisted that we travel by plane.
• The engineer requested that the road be repaired before winter.
• The doctor advised that he rest.

Note that in each sentence we follow the main verb with “that”

Also that the “I”, “you” and “they” forms of the subjunctive appear to be the same as in the indicative mood. It is only in the “he/she/it” form that the difference is clear. (Compare: “I suggest that you sit down”, and “I suggest that she sit down”). In modern English we often replace the subjunctive mood in the third person singular by the use of “should”. For example:

• I recommend that the class should spend more time studying English grammar.
• She demanded that he should pay attention.
• The engineer recommended that the road should be repaired before winter.
• The doctor advised that he should rest.

The subjunctive mood can be used in negative, passive and continuous forms. These are worth knowing about but probably not worth spending a lot of time learning.

• Negative examples
  • The manager requested that workers not accept personal phone calls during working hours.
  • Mr Smith insisted that Sam not be at the conference.
  • I suggest that you not accept the job without discussing the salary.
• Passive examples:
  • The consultant recommended that Mrs Jones be hired immediately.
  • The ambassador demanded that he be invited to take part in the discussions.
  • I suggested that she be admitted to the club.
• Continuous examples:
  • He requested that you be waiting for him at the station. 
  • I insisted that a car be waiting for the director after the exhibition.
  • I suggest that we all be looking smart when the President visits.

We sometimes also use the subjunctive mood after some other main verbs, such as: ask, command, order, desire, propose, urge and wish. But such usage is fairly rare nowadays and not worth learning.

2             The subjunctive mood sometimes follows certain constructions, such as:

• It is best (that)
• It is crucial (that)
• It is desirable (that)
• It is essential (that)
• It is imperative (that)
• It is important (that)
• It is urgent (that)
• It is vital (that)
• It is necessary (that)
• It is a good idea (that)
• It is a bad idea (that)

In such cases the subjunctive is again the same as the infinitive but without the “to”. Some examples:

• It is best that you listen to your teacher.
• It is crucial that you take your medicine.
• It is desirable that he wash his hands.
• It is essential that hockey players wear protective clothing.
• It is important that he write the essay by Monday.
• It is imperative that she arrive in time.
• It is important that the train arrive on time.
• It is urgent that we receive the parcel.
• It is vital that I see the doctor.
• It is necessary that we drive on the right.
• It is a good idea that the shop stay open late.

Note that although such usages might still appear to be grammatically correct they are rare these days and might seem a bit odd. It is more usual, for instance, to say or write: “It is important that he writes the essay by Monday”.

3             We can use the subjunctive mood to state or describe a hypothetical situation.  In this usage, the form of the verb “to be” changes to “were”:

• If I were a rich man, I’d build a big, tall house.
• If he were more cheerful, he would have more friends.
• If I were you, I would study harder.
• If the weather were warmer, I would go for a walk.
• If we were ready, we could leave now.
• If they were better behaved, they could have a present.
• I wish I were taller.
• I wish he were here.

Note that in these examples we often precede the subjunctive mood by “if” and follow it with the conditional. Also that the “we”, plural “you” and “they” forms of the subjunctive appear to be the same as the indicative mood. It is only in the “I” singular, “you” and “he/she/it” forms that the difference is clear.  (Compare: “I was a rich man” and “If I were a rich man…”. Also: “We were ready” and “If we were ready…”).

Also note that people are more likely to say: “If I was a rich man…”, “If he was more cheerful…”, “If I was you…” and so on

We can also use this form of the subjunctive mood in the negative:

• If it weren’t for the rain, I would go for a walk.
• If it weren’t for my lack of money, I would go to the concert.
• If it weren’t for the hard work, I would learn to ski.
• I wish she weren’t so lazy.
• I wish you were more considerate.

The bad news

The subjunctive mood is difficult to understand and learn. Even native speakers of British English mostly get it wrong.

The good news

The subjunctive mood was very common in English up to six or seven hundred years ago. Since then it has been in decline. Now it is quite rare in British English. You are most likely to come across Example 1 in very formal documents and situations. You are unlikely ever to come across Example 2 in normal use. Only Example 3 is used fairly often – but even that is frequently ignored.

The other bad news

The subjunctive mood still appears in English textbooks and English syllabuses so you have to learn it even though you might never use it in real life. (But if you do use it, you can pride yourself on speaking and writing English more correctly than many native speakers!)

A few other things

• Some grammarians say that English has at least five moods: indicative, imperative, subjunctive, conditional and interrogative. This just shows that grammar is not an exact science.
• Some languages have ten or more moods. Apparently the Nenets language, spoken by some people in northern Russia, has 16.
• Certain archaic expressions in the subjunctive mood are still in use. These include:
  • “…until death do us part” or “…until death us do part”. Sometimes used in marriage ceremonies.  
  • “…far be it from me”. Meaning it’s not my place to say something. As in: “Far be it from me to tell you what to do, but I think you should eat less meat”.
  • “albeit…”. A synthesis of all be it, meaning. “although it be…”. As in: “She did her home task, albeit a week late”.
  • “Be it enacted”. Used in laws (called “Acts”) passed by Parliament.

Posted by Graham