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HiA guy gave me the following question about English. Could somebody help him by giving a reply/answer?I have an English question for your professional advice:They keep tell us that it is vital that we there on time.What should be filled in the space? And why?I think 'keep tell' should be replaced by 'keep telling'. It is sort of typo, I am afraid.Thank you in advance.David

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Hi A guy gave me the following question about English. Could somebody help him by giving a reply/answer? I have ... it is vital that we there on time. What should be filled in the space? And why?[/nq]
Please ignore the above question and I'll rewrite it in the next post.

Usenet · Answer

Hi
A guy gave me the following question about English. Could somebody help him by giving a reply/answer?
They keep telling us that it is vital that we there on time. (A) were
(B) are
(C) be
(D) to be
Which choice is the correct answer in the blank? And Could you explain why?
Thank you in advance.
David

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I have an English question for your professional advice: They keep tell us that it is vital that we there on time. What should be filled in the space? And why?[/nq]
There are any number of possibilities, including but not restricted to:

They keep telling us that it is vital that we get there on time. be
arrive
land
surface
are delivered
are deposited
Why? Because they are all possible.
Yo9u're right about "telling" by the way.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hi A guy gave me the following question about English. Could somebody help him by giving a reply/answer? They keep ... to be Which choice is the correct answer in the blank? And Could you explain why? Thank you in advance.[/nq]
(A) would be possible if the event lies in the past, but then it's too late to be vital now! So we can dismiss that option.

(B) is the one that you would be most likely to hear in practice, but...

(C) is the one which English teachers like to think is correct, because it is expressing the subjunctive mood. I (a British native speaker) can't explain or justify why the subjunctive should be preferred there. I think Americans may be more likely to favour this one.

(D) is completely wrong.
Matti

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]A guy gave me the following question about English. Could ... correct answer in the blank? And Could you explain why?[/nq]
[nq:1](B) is the one that you would be most likely to hear in practice, but... (C) is the one which ... or justify why the subjunctive should be preferred there. I think Americans may be more likely to favour this one.[/nq]
Indeed: in the United States, "be" is more likely to be heard in that sentence than is "are".
What kind of explanation or justification are you looking for? There's the historical explanation (That construction used the subjunctive in Old English, and it has changed little enough that it still does today); Miss Thistlebottom's explanation (Latin used the subjunctive in constructions similar to that); the circular explanation ("vital" is a mandative adjective, and mandative constructions in modern English take subjunctive complements). I don't know if there's any better explanation than these, but I don't know if there's a better explanation than these for anuthing that happens in grammar.
-Aaron J. Dinkin
Dr. Whom

Usenet · Answer

(Someone:)

(Matti:)
[nq:2](B) is the one that you would be most likely ... think Americans may be more likely to favour this one.[/nq]
[nq:1]Indeed: in the United States, "be" is more likely to be heard in that sentence than is "are".[/nq]
I'm not sure that's really true; this is what I believe Ray Wise would call a "testable" thing. I think a substantial plurality of relatively educated and literate US speakers would prefer "be" there, but I suspect that a majority of American speakers, if saying the sentence off the cuff, wouldn't use "be". ICBW, since I think *I* would use "be" off the cuff, "are" sounding wrong, BWDIKIJATP.
What's striking is that even among the most educated and literate British speakers (in the pre-Falklands sense) don't use "be", while their American counterparts do (= BrE "do do"?). Many of the Brits will use "should be", which is something that I wouldn't expect any natural-born AmE speaker to do.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]They keep telling us that it is vital that we ... correct answer in the blank? And Could you explain why?[/nq]
[nq:1](A) would be possible if the event lies in the past, but then it's too late to be vital now! ... subjunctive should be preferred there. I think Americans may be more likely to favour this one. (D) is completely wrong.[/nq]
Here in the USofA, it is (C) that is correct, and this is commonly used.
Now if the word "vital" in the question were replaced by "important", then either (B) or (C) could be correct, but with different meanings:

(b') ... it is important that we are there on time.

This means that we are there on time, because we are punctual people, and the writer points this fact out as being an important one.

(c') ... it is important that we be there on time.

The meeting is in the future, or is a periodic meeting. Bad stuff will happen if we are late, so the writer is exhorting us to be there on time. Pretty much the same meaning as with the word "vital".

Stefano
http://www.steve-and-pattie.com/esperantujo

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I have an English question for your professional advice: They ... time. What should be filled in the space? And why?[/nq]
[nq:1]There are any number of possibilities, including but not restricted to: They keep telling us that it is vital that we get there on time. be arrive land surface are delivered are deposited Why? Because they are all possible.[/nq]
As is plain "are" surely.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1](Someone:)[/nq]
[nq:1]Many of the Brits will use "should be", which is something that I wouldn't expect any natural-born AmE speaker to do.[/nq]
An American might use "should" be if it needed to be emphasized, I think:

"You said it was vital that we not be there on time!" "No, I said it was vital that we SHOULD be there on time!"

This is analogous to the use of "do" for stress:
"You said you don't show up on time!"
"No, I said I DO show up on time!"
where the version without the stress doesn't have the "do".

-Aaron J. Dinkin
Dr. Whom

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1](A) would be possible if the event lies in the past, but then it's too late to be vital now! ... subjunctive should be preferred there. I think Americans may be more likely to favour this one. (D) is completely wrong.[/nq]
What is a subjunctive mood? Can you raise other examples to illustrate this? Thank you in advance.
David

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