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SeroMack Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
There BE something (?)
"Certainly we must admit that grades are not always correct or exact, since human beings are grading, and there be bias in grading as in other areas..."
There BE bias? Why not there IS bias? Can someone explain this grammatical rule?
There BE bias? Why not there IS bias? Can someone explain this grammatical rule?
Top answer
Maybe the writer is using the present subjunctive, which usually is done for formal requests/commands, or the imperative: Present Subjunctive: The general asks that the soldiers be ready to fight. Imperative: You be quiet! ".
- Maybe the writer is using the present subjunctive, which usually is done for formal requests/commands, or the imperative: Present Subjunctive: The general asks that the soldiers be ready to fight.
- Imperative: You be quiet!
- ".
- I think the forms "there are" and "there is" are more common than "there be".
- I hear/read "there be" more often in older literature or when people are trying to write in an old-fashioned way.
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2 Answers
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Maybe the writer is using the present subjunctive, which usually is done for formal requests/commands, or the imperative:
Present Subjunctive:
The general asks that the soldiers be ready to fight.
Imperative:
You be quiet!
You can see that in the same sentence the writer used "grades are..." instead of "grades be...". I think the forms "there are" and "there is" are
Present Subjunctive:
The general asks that the soldiers be ready to fight.
Imperative:
You be quiet!
You can see that in the same sentence the writer used "grades are..." instead of "grades be...". I think the forms "there are" and "there is" are
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Subjunctive, you're right! How could I forget about this rule, ah... As a non-native living in non-English spoken country I don't use such.. "sophisticated" registers, that's why I guess...
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