On the putative 'should'

Question

The passage below comes from The pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho.

‘The Road to Santiago is about to end,’ said my guide, ‘and since our reality is a lot more similar to these railroad cars, stinking of oil, than to the bucolic retreats we have encountered during our journey, it is better that today’s conversation happen here.’

I'd like to ask a question regarding the underlined 'happen'.
It seems to be the type of the omission of the putative 'should' before 'happen'.
Am I right?

One more question.
Is the sentence possible with 'happens' not 'happen'?

Regards.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Stenka25Am I right?

No. It is subjunctive mood.

http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/subjunctive.html

Stenka25Is the sentence possible with 'happens' not 'happen'?

Yes.

Stenka25 · Answer

Thanks a lot as always, AlpheccaStars.

The site below says subjuncative 'should' is also called putative 'should', though.
http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/Putative-Should.htm

In addition, putative should (also called attitudinal "should" or subjunctive "should") "occurs in http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/subclterm.htm as an alternative to the http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/subjuncterm05.htm after expressions of suggesting, advising, etc.: They insisted that I (should) stay the whole week" (Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, 1994).

AlpheccaStars · Answer

There is not much emotional content in the quotation, nor are there intensifying expressions. I wouldn't give it a label of "putative should," but if it helps you learn the elusive (and declining) subjunctive mood, then I can't argue with you.

As noted by Randolph Quirk et al., putative should (also called emotional "should") occurs in that clauses "after expressions of emotion (sorrow, joy, displeasure, surprise, wonder, etc.), and is often accompanied by intensifying expressions such as so, such, like this/that, ever, or at all" (A Comprehensive Grammar, 1985).

CalifJim · Answer

Stenka25It seems to be the type of the omission of the putative 'should' before 'happen'.

Yes. Putative 'should' is also called evaluative 'should', by the way, and the construction with 'should' is sometimes called the periphrastic subjunctive. Without 'should' it's the present subjunctive or the mandative construction.

Lots of names for the same things!

Stenka25Is the sentence possible with 'happens' not 'happen'?

Yes, provided 'should' is not included. I'm told that the British quite often choose the form with the "s" while Americans tend to prefer the form without the "s". (For the verb be, those are 'is' and 'be', respectively.)

CJ

Stenka25 · Answer

Thanks a lot for your follow-up reply, AlpheccaStars<img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Stenka25 · Answer

Thanks a lot for giving me the chance to have a deeper understanding of this usage, CJ<img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

On the putative 'should'

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