unusual subjunctive

[Scot LaFaive]

>Or is this more common than I think?

It works well for me and seems as if it's common.

Scot

On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 8:43 PM, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
> Subject:      unusual subjunctive
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>
> From
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/arts/design/14rauschenberg.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1210770462-uIm4TmfQsDc8x4FbyKakMQ
> :
>
> A painter, photographer, printmaker, choreographer, onstage
> performer, set designer and, in later years, even a composer, Mr.
> Rauschenberg defied the traditional idea that an artist stick to one
> medium or style.
>
> ---
>
> I could go with "suggestion that..." or something similarly deontic,
> but "idea that..." with a subjunctive (rather than "should" or "ought
> to", for instance) seems to me like an application of the subjunctive
> by someone who doesn't really quite have a natural feel for it. Or is
> this more common than I think?
>
> James Harbeck.
>
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