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English Grammar: The Subjunctive And The Conditionals
Date Submitted: 02/17/2001 20:22:00
The Subjunctive
Modern grammarians and semanticists dispute he existence of subjunctive in modern English, as there is no explicit form marked for this category. The formally marked subjunctive existed once but it was gradually reduced to the present and preterit forms which do not differ from the indicative form. Still the hypothetical meaning and the "wishing" meaning can be carried across by these rudimentary forms especially with the verb BE. The present subjunctive of this
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conjunction IF:
Were you to go, I would go too.
3.<Tab/>Unreal Past Conditional: Modal + Perfect Infinitive: If you had asked me, I would have stayed.
It relates a condition that was not fulfilled in the past so it actually represents a speculation about the past and the possibility of what could have happened if the condition had been fulfilled. The modals used are: SHOULD, WOULD, COULD, MIGHT and OUGHT TO.
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