Subjunctive Mood and the Tense .1 Present Tense

5.2.2.1.1.1 Present Subjunctive

The present subjunctive mood can appear in both subordinate clauses and main clauses.

According to Huddleston (1984) in the main clause, only the archaic and formulaic sentences are found. This type of the subjunctive mood is called Optative or Formulaic.

The present subjunctive in the subordinate clause restricted to certain types of that clauses, adverbial clauses. The latter include conditional clauses and concessive clauses.

The subjunctive mood in that clauses is called a Mandative clause.

The structure that is used in the present subjunctive is bare infinitive. In other words, “The present subjunctive is identical with the base form of the main verb” (Greenbaum, 1996, p.266). Although in British English the constructer should with infinitive is used more common rather than structure bare infinitive. Moreover, the constructer should + infinitive can also use in informal American English. Anyhow, whenever the bare

indicative particularly when the subject is plural or first person singular. According to Huddleston (1984), “There is no verb in English where the present subjunctive, the (present) imperative and the infinitive are distinct, so that we have no grounds for making an inflectional difference here, a difference of morphological form” (p.82).

The present subjunctive be is taken an exception. Because the indicative forms of be for the first person singular, the third person singular and plural persons are am, is, are respectively. Hence, Zandvoort (1969) pointed out the case of be as the formal opposition subjunctive and indicative in all singular and plural persons. In regard to be in the present subjunctive, Thomson & Martinet (1986) also affirmed, “The present subjunctive has exactly the same form as the infinitive; therefore the present subjunctive of to be is be for all persons, and the present subjunctive of all other verbs is the same as their present tense except that s is not added for the third person singular” (p. 253).

By considering the verb forms in which subjunctive and indicative moods are identical, Robert (1954) concluded that the definition of mood should not be undertaken by form alone. Moreover, Depraetere & Reed (2006), for the same reason, stated, “The base form of the subjunctive present in referring to the form can be embedded in a clause with present, past or future reference.” (p.1). To determine the subjunctive mood, there are few formal clues and indicator in English. In the present subjunctive, the only indication is the bare infinitive of the verb. Obviously, it is easy to distinguish the present subjunctive when the subject is third person singular. Because the third person singular of a verb may occur with or without s. Cannon (1959) argued that, the only applicable formal indication for the subjunctive present mood is the uninflected form of the verb in the third person singular. Zandvoort (1969) mentioned the opposition of subjunctive and indicative mood in literary English in the third person singular. “The present subjunctive is most easily

distinguished from the present indicative when the subject is 3^rd person singular: the subjunctive lacks the –s ending. Thus in I know that he takes the bus the subordinate clause has an indicative verb, whereas in I recommend that he take the bus it has a subjunctive” (Huddleston, 1984, p. 80). Haddleston’s view was asserted by Hirtle (2007) that “The absence of –s here is significant because this is one of the marks for recognizing a verb in the subjunctive mood in English” (p. 39).

The majority of grammarians asserted the decline, disuse or rarely use of the subjunctive mood nowadays. In addition, they accept that there is a tendency to use the corresponding indicative sentences. That is, the indicative form can be replaced in some subjunctive clauses at least informally. Notwithstanding, as Willis (1950) illustrated occasionally “an indicative form is awkward, as in “I recommend that he comes with us” (176). It should bear in mind that it is not sometimes easy to determine the type of mood represented in the subordinate clauses. For example, the following sentence is difficult to be realized as indicative or subjunctive.

[274] “I insist that we reconsider the Council’s decision. [indicative or subjunctive]”

(Quirk et al., 1985, p. 155)

Quirk et al. (1985) discussed that it was reasonable to say that there is a neutralization of two moods of indicative and subjunctive present where the base form of the verb can be attributed to both. The below example is an instance of neutralizations of present indicative and present subjunctive constructions.

[275] (1b) “Our decision is that the schools remain closed.”

While the following sentences can be distinguished because of having the criterions of

‘the absence of Do-supporter’ and also ‘–s inflection of third person singular’ for present subjunctive mood.

[277] (1a) Our decision is that the school remains closed. [indicative]

[278] (2) They insisted that we not eat meat. [subjunctive]

[279] (2a) They insisted that we do not eat meat. [indicative] ” (Quirk et al., 1985, p.

157).

Zandvoort (1969) clarified that if the conditions of the sentences are the same “the opposition subjunctive_ indicative may be felt potentially in other persons than the third singular if the conditions are otherwise the same:

When Pierre insisted that they quit the house…

As we passed through Pevensey he suggested that we stop and have a look over the castle”

(p.87).

a) Subordinate Clauses

Jespersen (1924) noted that one of the functions of the subjunctive is simply in subordinate clauses. That is true. Because the subjunctive mood is typically used in dependent clauses. In other words, “The subjunctive is found mainly in subordinate clauses” (Palmer, 2001, p.5). According to Palmer (2001), “It is, in fact, no coincidence that the term ‘subjunctive’ is a translation of the Classical Greek hypotaktiké which literally means subordinate. Indeed, in Latin, the subjunctive was increasingly used in subordinate sentences even where there seemed to be no notion of irrealis” (p. 108).

a.1 That-clause (Mandative Clause)

Such sentences in that clause merely represent the hypothetical and unfulfilled actions.

They contrast with the indicative mood in which their verb expresses an ambiguous fact.

The request sentences can be considered subjunctive mood because the main clauses of such constructions can be derived from the sentences including should to express