Subjunctive Mood (2)

"I didn't think she was going" is correct because it is not an example of the subjunctive mood in English.

The subjunctive mood is used when the sentence expresses a thought contrary to reality.

"If I were king..." (I'm not the king.)

"If I were you..." (I'm not you.)

The sentence "I didn't think she was going." does not express an idea that is contrary to

We use "think" in the past simple or past perfect tense to indicate a belief that was previously held but that has been shown to be incorrect. For example:

I didn't think she was going. (past simple)
I had thought that she wasn't going. (past perfect)

The exception is in converting from direct to reported speech:

"I think he's a terrible teacher," she said. (dir

I'm sorry, but aren't you guys talking about the conditional, not the subjunctive. I thought that the subjunctive was a formal way of speaking:

>> We recommend that all staff acknowledge receipt of this memo.

>> They insisted that we go with them.

>> It is vital that children remain in the school grounds until their parents arrive.

Please have a look at the 8th post in this thread for the difference between the subjunctive mood and conditional constructions:

http://www.EnglishForward.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=35602

I'll write more later if I have time.

Miriam

I've posted this in another thread:
would + base form of verb = simple conditional (would go)
would + have + past participle = perfect conditional (would have gone)

Both are usually seen in conditional sentences Types II and III.
Type II: "If it started to rain now, I would stay at home."
Type III: "If it had rained yesterday, I would have stayed at h

I had never really understood the subjunctive until I read this. Great post, Miriam.

By the way, some people seem to refer to the subjunctive as being "rarely used" in English. Yet from reading the above, it is clearly used all the time. I also remember reading somewhere (I can't remember where - on the Internet, I think) that the English language doesn't have a "true" subjunctive. Is t

Thank you, Dave.

I'm not sure I know the right answers to all your questions, but I'll try.

I wouldn't say that the English language does not have a "true" subjunctive mood. Perhaps it's only that it is not so 'developed', so to speak, as, say, the indicative mood, in the sense that it does not have its own verb forms. That's why the subjunctive 'borrows' froms from indicative

Could you tell me the differences here?


Are you going out later?
(1) Yeah, if I go out, I'll close the window.
(2) Yeah, when I go out, I'll cloase the window.


For the first sentence, I would say it is possible that I will go out, but I'm not sure.(Fifth-fifty)
For the second one, I think the possibility of going out is more than fifty percent. B

Hello, Pastel.

In the first sentence, it is possible that that you will go out (I don't think we can say 50-50 or measure

This is my comprehension after reading your post:

The first sentence implied some uncertainty of going out or not, and whether to close the window or not depends on his going out, whereas the second one is of certain that the person will go out in a future time and thus he'll close the window when he's out.


I hope I don't get you wrong. Thank you, Miriam.[F]