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Blueblooded65 Posted 14 years ago
Vocabulary

God forbids that

I looked in oxford dictionary for "God forbids..." but it was written that this expression is used in "spoken", i wonder if americans use it in written? or what expression do you use in written?
will you give me an example too?
  

Top answer

', a formulaic subjunctive. It can be written, too.

  • ', a formulaic subjunctive.
  • It can be written, too.
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17 Answers
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It is usually '*** forbid (that)..', a formulaic subjunctive. It can be written, too.
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thanks is it right? *** forbid that he gets sick.
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"That" is rare in my dialect. "*** forbid he gets sick."
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can we also use "lest" instead of "*** forbid"?
Lest he gets sick.
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blueblooded65can we also use "lest" instead of "*** forbid"?Lest he gets sick.
No. That means something different, and it would take the subjunctive in my dialect: "We made him put a coat on lest he get sick." "Lest" is quite old-fashioned. Nobody says that nowadays in standard American English.
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so what expressions can be used instead of "*** forbids", without mentioning "***"?
forbids he gets sick?
i hope he doesnt get sick?
and what else?
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You're not getting it. It isn't "forbids", it's "forbid". It is an old-fashioned use of the subjunctive (I don't think it really is subjunctive) to invoke a deity. It means something like "May *** forbid whatever." You see the same thing in the song "America the Beautiful": "*** shed his grace on thee".

Please try to observe the conventions regarding capital letters and punctuation. They
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I know the punctuations and capitalization, but they take time, so sometimes i forget to obey them.
and I had gotten the point that it is "*** forbid" without "s", but i don't know why I wrote it with "s" again.
I also know that "*** forbid..." is for invoking a deity. but I meant is there any expression similar to it, which doesn't invoke a deity but shows our worry about the situation?
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blueblooded65I know the punctuations and capitalization, but they take time
Answering you takes a lot more time than pressing a shift key. I am trying to make allowances for cultural differences and difficult communication, but I'm failing.

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