The Suppositional Mood and Subjunctive I

These two moods will be treated together because they have the same meaning and are practically interchangeable in use. They differ in form as well as stylistically.

Form: Subjunctive I is a synthetical form which survived from Old English. It has only one form, which is homonymous with the verb stem: be, do, have, go, write, etc.

The Suppositional Mood is an analytical form which is built up with the help of the auxiliary verb should for all persons + the Infinitive. The non-perfect Suppositional mood: should be, should do, should write. The perfect Suppositional Mood: should have been, should have done, should have written.

Meaning: Both Subjunctive I and the Suppositional Mood express problematic actions, not necessarily contradicting reality. These actions are presented as necessity, order, suggestion, supposition, desire, request, etc.

Expressing the same kind of modality, Subjunctive I and the Suppositional Mood are used in the same syntactic structures and are, to a great extent, interchangeable. However, they differ stylistically: thus, in the British variant of the English language Subjunctive I is only preserved in elevated prose, poetry or official documents. In neutral, everyday speech the Suppositional Mood is used. In American English Subjunctive I in neutral and colloquial speech is the norm:

He even suggested that I should play cricket with his sons (Br.E.).

He suggested that I come for her (Am.E.).