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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Subjunctive Mood
The brother of the Titanic's captain asked after the sinking: what should his life have been if he had not been lured into that last, fateful voyage
A) what should his life have been if he had not been lured into that last, fateful voyage
B) what will his life have been if he were not lured into that last, fateful voyage
C) what would his life have been if he had not been lured into that last, fateful voyage
D) what could his life have been had not he been lured into that last, fateful voyage
E) what would his life be if he had only resisted the lure of that last fateful voyage
The official answer is C. I want to know why the answer is not B?
Why the subjunctive mood is not applicable for this sentence?
A) what should his life have been if he had not been lured into that last, fateful voyage
B) what will his life have been if he were not lured into that last, fateful voyage
C) what would his life have been if he had not been lured into that last, fateful voyage
D) what could his life have been had not he been lured into that last, fateful voyage
E) what would his life be if he had only resisted the lure of that last fateful voyage
The official answer is C. I want to know why the answer is not B?
Why the subjunctive mood is not applicable for this sentence?
Top answer
Because the tenses in B don't make sense. What will his life be? He's dead, nothing will happen, so "will" is not ok here.
- Because the tenses in B don't make sense.
- What will his life be?
- He's dead, nothing will happen, so "will" is not ok here.
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3 Answers
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Because the tenses in B don't make sense.
What will his life be? He's dead, nothing will happen, so "will" is not ok here.
What will his life be? He's dead, nothing will happen, so "will" is not ok here.
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AnonymousWhy is the subjunctive moodIt is applicable, but were after if is not the only case of subjunctive. had been lured is also subjunctive. All past perfect tenses double as past subjunctives. Yoisnot applicable for this sentence?
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AnonymousB) what will his life have been if he were not lured into that last, fateful voyagePresent-posterior (will be) doesn't make any sense with past-neutral (note 'last' in that if clause).
"If he were not lured into that last, fateful voyage" is not 'subjunctive' of old school grammars at all; nor is it present counterfactual.
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