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Teo Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
subjunctive vs indicative
1. If it be fine tomorrow, I will go out.
2. If it is fine tomorrow, I will go out.
What's the difference in meaning between the above sentences?
Thanks very much for your reply.
2. If it is fine tomorrow, I will go out.
What's the difference in meaning between the above sentences?
Thanks very much for your reply.
Top answer
Sentence 1 is non-standard. The "be" needs to be conjugated to is, like in sentence 2.
- Sentence 1 is non-standard.
- The "be" needs to be conjugated to is, like in sentence 2.
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7 Answers
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Sentence 1 is non-standard. The "be" needs to be conjugated to is, like in sentence 2.
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Hello Vorpar
Is that so bad? I found the same sentence in a novel by a British writer, though it was a bit too old one.
"I had one valid excuse for coming to see you to-day," she said, when gaiety and dejection had both gone by. "Mr. and Mrs. Bradshaw seriously think of going to Rome at the end of next week, and they wish to have another day at Pompeii. The
Is that so bad? I found the same sentence in a novel by a British writer, though it was a bit too old one.
"I had one valid excuse for coming to see you to-day," she said, when gaiety and dejection had both gone by. "Mr. and Mrs. Bradshaw seriously think of going to Rome at the end of next week, and they wish to have another day at Pompeii. The
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Teo,
There is no difference in meaning, but as for "If it be ...", no one has spoken like that in at least a century!
C
There is no difference in meaning, but as for "If it be ...", no one has spoken like that in at least a century!
C
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If Music Be the Food of Love, Here's a Way to Keep Pets Fed
Quoted from the New York Times Weekly Supplement (in United Daily News of Taiwan), Monday, November 14, 2005.
Quoted from the New York Times Weekly Supplement (in United Daily News of Taiwan), Monday, November 14, 2005.
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Hi,
If Music Be the Food of Love Yes, but that's a quote written a long time ago by Shakespeare.
Oddly enough, as discussed today in the thread on Ebonics (Black English, the base verb 'be' is making a bit of a comeback there. To my inexpert ear, a sentence like I ain't goin' nowhere if it be rainin' wouldn't
If Music Be the Food of Love Yes, but that's a quote written a long time ago by Shakespeare.
Oddly enough, as discussed today in the thread on Ebonics (Black English, the base verb 'be' is making a bit of a comeback there. To my inexpert ear, a sentence like I ain't goin' nowhere if it be rainin' wouldn't
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Dear friends,
I have heard «be» in British rural dialects. It is used sometimes instead of «am» and «is». It is most confusing.
I have heard «be» in British rural dialects. It is used sometimes instead of «am» and «is». It is most confusing.
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..especially when ee be means you are in some areas and he is in others.
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