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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

require that

Hello everybody,

I've been wondering about a certain construction in English for a while now. I can't seem to find the way to use it anywhere on the various sites on English grammar. If you have the main verb 'require' and have a clause as the object, the verb in the clause becomes an infinitive, like this:

We require that the detective investigate the case more thoroughly.

Would using 'investigates' be wrong, or just informal? And does this construction only apply to 'require' (I have a feeling it may apply to 'suggest' as well), and to what words would it then apply? Finally, does this grammatical rule have an official name?

To me, this is a weird quirk in English language and I never really understood it (I'm Dutch).

Greetings, Roy
  

Top answer

html ] this site (click here)[/url]. You can get what you want to know. paco

— Paco2004

  • html ] this site (click here)[/url].
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3 Answers
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Hello Anon

Please visit [url=http://www.ceafinney.com/subjunctive/excerpts.html] this site (click here)[/url]. You can get what you want to know.

paco
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"investigates" would be wrong. After certain expressions (require that ..., insist that ..., demand that ..., it is important that ..., etc.), the "s" inflection is not used. It's called the subjunctive. The link Paco gave you will explain it in more detail.

CJ
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