THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD Starting from the forms that verbs have when they are used in this

mood, grammars distinguish between two main types of Subjunctive: synthetical and analytical. 1) Synthetical Subjunctive This type of Subjunctive can be traced to the Old English period, when it was characterized by a specific set of inflections, which differed from those of the Indicative. In time, the inflections were lost and, now, there are very few differences between the forms that verbs have in the Subjunctive and in the Indicative moods. The Synthetical Subjunctive mood is, in its turn, of three sub-types: a) Present Subjunctive It has the same form with the short infinitive in all persons and numbers. In British English, it is used mainly in formal contexts, in literary works, in the scientific language, in the official style; however, in American English it is a relatively frequent form. It is used: in some independent clauses expressing wish e.g. Long live the king! Be that as you wish! in various types of subordinate clauses (subject, direct object, concessive, conditional, etc.) e.g. It is necessary that we all prepare something for the meeting. I recommended that he go there alone. Be that as it may, I still think he made a mistake. b) Past Subjunctive It coincides in form with the Past of the Indicative mood, except for the verb to be which has the form were for all persons and numbers. It has present time reference. It is used: in conditional clauses (type 2) e.g. If I were you, I would ask for a second opinion. after the verb wish e.g. I wish he could come to the party.

NOTE: The verb wish is followed by would + short infinitive when the speaker wants to express impatience, annoyance or dissatisfaction with a present action. e.g. I wish they would stop interrupting our conversation. after it is (high/ about) time e.g. It's high time you started thinking about saving for your old age after as if/ as though e.g. My best friend acts as if she were my mother. after would rather (when there are two different subjects) e.g. I would rather you stayed at home with me tonight. c) Past Perfect Subjunctive It coincides with the Past Perfect of the Indicative mood. It is used in the cases mentioned for Past Subjunctive, but it has past time reference. e.g. If I had heard you, I would have answered. (conditional clause type 3) I wish you had been here yesterday. It was time they had finished their share of work. He speaks as though he had witnessed the accident. I would rather you had come back earlier.

2) Analytical Subjunctive It is built with the help of auxiliary verbs (should, shall, may, would, etc.), followed by a present infinitive for present reference, or by a perfect infinitive for past reference. The use of a particular auxiliary verb in the form of the Analytical Subjunctive depends on the presence of certain syntactic and/ or semantic contextual elements, as illustrated below: a) The Analytical Subjunctive with SHOULD is used: after the construction it is/ was + adjectives like important, necessary, recommendable, advisable, amazing, strange, surprising, or by e.g. It is advisable that you should wear a high visibility vest. It is surprising that he should have said that. after verbs expressing an order, a request, a command, such as to suggest, to ask, to insist, to require, to demand, to order, to request, etc. e.g. He asked that I should not tell that to anybody.

after nouns like importance, recommendation, advice, surprise, etc. e.g. His recommendation that we should wait until morning was extremely useful. in final clauses, especially in the negative ones e.g. I did it so that I should not upset her. I did it lest I should upset her.

b) The Analytical Subjunctive with MAY/ MIGHT is used: in independent clauses expressing a wish e.g. May you be happy and healthy! after the construction it is/ was followed by adjectives like possible, probable, likely e.g. It is likely that he may miss the train. after verbs expressing fear e.g. I fear that the dog might bite me. in concessive clauses, when the action is rather unsure e.g. Although she may be intelligent/ Intelligent as she may be/ However intelligent she may be, she does lots of foolish things. in final clauses e.g. George does all these so that his family may be happy. c) The Analytical Subjunctive with WILL/ WOULD and CAN/ COULD is used mostly in final clauses e.g. Draw the curtain so that the room will get darker. Open the window so that we can breathe more fresh air.

THE CONDITIONAL MOOD

1) Types of conditional sentences In the vast majority of cases, the tenses of the Conditional Mood are used in a main clause which governs a conditional clause, being part of a series of relatively strict verbal patterns. Grammars generally discuss three basic types of conditional sentences, referred to as Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3. The kinds of conditions expressed by each of these conditional clauses and the verbal forms imposed by their use are illustrated in the table below:

Type of conditional clause Type 1

Main clause

Conditional clause

It expresses a real, probable condition in the future: the Future Tense/ action in the main clause will take place at a future moment Imperative if the condition is fulfilled by that time. e.g. I will go to the ceremony if I am invited by my former students. Go to the ceremony if you are invited by your former students. Type 2

Present Tense

It expresses an unlikely, hypothetical condition in the Present Conditional Past Subjunctive (close or distant) present: the action in the main clause is the envisaged result of the imaginary, improbable situation rendered by the ifclause. e.g. I would go to the ceremony if I were invited by my former students. Type 3 It expresses an unreal, impossible condition in the Perfect Conditional Past Perfect Subjunctive past: the action in the main clause is a speculation about the possible consequences of an imaginary past event. e.g. I would have gone to the ceremony if I had been invited by my former students.

2) Conditional sentences: special cases a) Mixed conditional clauses When the time reference of the conditional clause is different from the time reference of the main clause, we use mixed conditional clauses. As long as the sense and the context permit, various combinations are possible: e.g. If he hadnt wasted his time instead of studying, he would be able to answer all the exam questions. (Main clause - type 2 + Conditional clause - type 3) If Jane werent so conceited she would have made more friends in the camp last year. (Main clause - type 3 + Conditional clause - type 2) If she is as talented as people say, she would have become famous by now. (Main clause - type 3 + Conditional clause - type 1) b) Adding an extra degree of improbability to the condition If we want to suggest that it is rather unlikely for the action in the conditional clause to take place, we can use the modal verb should followed by the short infinitive of the lexical verb, instead of the tense corresponding to that clause type. e.g. If she should call later, tell her what we have decided. (translated as: Dac cumva va veni mai trziu/ Dac se ntmpl s vin mai trziu/ Dac din ntmplare va veni mai trziu ) c) Conditional clauses without if In formal contexts, certain conditional clauses can be built without the conjunction if, and involve a structure based on the inversion between the subject and the auxiliary verb. The types of conditional clauses which allow this alternative form of expression are: Type 3 conditionals, Type 2 conditionals which contain the verb were, and, in general, any type of conditional clause whose verbal form includes a modal auxiliary (especially should, but also other modals). e.g. Had we found out about it earlier (= If I had found out about it earlier), we would have come to help you. Were I younger (= If I were younger), I would think about a career change. Should you find the missing book (= If you should find the missing book), please let me know. Could you arrive a few minutes earlier (= If you could arrive a few minutes earlier), I would be very grateful to you. d) Other conjunctions with conditional meaning Although if is the conjunction which most frequently introduces a conditional clause (and, therefore, represents the source of the name if-clauses), this is not the only

conditional conjunction. Conditional clauses can also be introduced by forms like if only, even if, unless, provided/ providing (that), on (the) condition (that), supposing (that), or as/ so long as. e.g. If only they had listened to our advice! Even if your son doesnt understand a word, he will have to keep silent during the performance. Dont call me unless there is a really urgent problem. You can take my umbrella provided that you bring it back tomorrow. They will give us the building permit on condition that we present a series of documents. You can use the information in these books as long as you acknowledge your sources. e) Pointing to a person or an event which made a difference In order to indicate what contributed to the occurrence of a certain situation, or, on the contrary, what prevented it, we can use the structure if it werent for (were it not for) in conditional Type 2, and if it hadnt been for (had it not been for) in conditional Type3: e.g. If it werent for Bob, we would be still lost in the woods. If it hadnt been for your help, I couldnt have solved the problem. In both types of conditional clause, this structure can be reduced to but for. e.g. But for Bob, we would be still lost in the woods. But for your help, I couldnt have solved the problem. f) Conditional sentences without verbs in the Conditional Mood Conditional sentences can also have structures which do not follow the strict patterns characteristic of the conditionals Type 1, 2 or 3. In other words, there are frequent cases in which the clauses introduced by if allow the use of a tense which is logically imposed by the situation (that is, a present tense in order to refer to a present action, or a past tense in order to refer to a past one), just as it happens with the clauses introduced by almost any other English conjunction. e.g. If you want me to help your brother, you have to tell me exactly what happened. If she didnt like the movie we went to yesterday, she wont enjoy the one tomorrow either.