FW: Imperative/subjunctive.

[Jon Aske]

This was meant for the list.  It's got a great example.  Jon

-----Original Message-----
From:   Rictus Hep [SMTP:rictus at best.com]
Sent:   Sunday, April 06, 1997 12:13 AM
To:     Jon Aske
Subject:        Re: Imperative/subjunctive.

> To the extent that the addressee can have volitional control over a state,
> commands with stative verbs are just fine.  Under most circumstances,
> however, things like "be tall" sound odd, for exactly that reason.

Funny you should mention that particular phrase.  My wife
often says things like, "Be tall for me and get that vase off
the top shelf, will you?"

nj