Subjunctive in the following cases
Can we use the subjunctive mood in the following cases?
'If I had been less cautious I might have been more wise, but I was half crazy with fear lest you should learn the truth.
‘Portia immediately fell in love with him and feared lest he should choose the wrong box.
‘When she was a couple of feet still from the bed she stopped, afraid to go on lest her fears came true.
I think, 'should' in the first two sentences can be omitted and for the last one, 'came' can be written as 'come'. Please, let me know if my assumption is right.And also, I would like to know if we could use the sunjunctive mood with the verb 'wish', e.g. I wish he get well soon.
Please help!
Top answer
Yes, "lest" freely takes subjunctive clauses as complement. No, "wish" does not license (permit) subjunctive clauses as complement, as your ungrammatical example demonstrates. Incidentally, it is better to refer to the subjunctive as a kind of construction – one that takes a plain form verb – rather than a mood.
- Yes, "lest" freely takes subjunctive clauses as complement.
- No, "wish" does not license (permit) subjunctive clauses as complement, as your ungrammatical example demonstrates.
- Incidentally, it is better to refer to the subjunctive as a kind of construction – one that takes a plain form verb – rather than a mood.
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Yes, "lest" freely takes subjunctive clauses as complement.
No, "wish" does not license (permit) subjunctive clauses as complement, as your ungrammatical example demonstrates.
Incidentally, it is better to refer to the subjunctive as a kind of construction – one that takes a plain form verb – rather than a mood.
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