Subjunctive(?): not critical that

[Benjamin Barrett]

I took Wilson's meaning to be that, while foreign subjunctives are
difficult to get for English speakers who use English subjunctives,
they are still a help. I agree strongly with this sentiment. Moods are
bizarrely difficult to grasp in foreign languages and every little bit
helps. BB

On Mar 20, 2008, at 7:26 AM, goofy dreaming wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       goofy dreaming <goofy at DREAMING.ORG>
> Subject:      Re: Subjunctive(?): not critical that
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In my Canadian dialect, either subjunctive or indicative here is fine.
> Instead of "tie" I might say "should tie".
>
> There are cases where the subjunctive makes a difference for me, for
> instance these sentences have different meanings.
>
> She insists that he take his medicine.
> She insists that he takes his medicine.
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 10:15 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> A practical reason for retaining the subjunctive is the fact that
>> other languages have it or an equivalent. These foreign subjunctives
>> are difficult to grasp, even when you're an active user of the
>> English
>> subjunctive, which itself can be difficult to grasp, as this thread
>> shows.
>
>
> So if using the English subjunctive doesn't help with foreign
> subjunctives,
> then what is the practical reason for retaining the English
> subjunctive?
>
> John

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