The use of the Subjunctive Mood

The Subjunctive Mood may be used nowadays in simple sentences to express hope, wish or prayer (the Present Subjunctive) as in:

God save the Queen! God forgive you! Manners be hanged!

But mostly the Subjunctive Mood is used in complex sentences:

· in that- clauses expressing resolution, recommendation, command or necessity (the Present Subjunctive):

The judge demands that the prisoner tell the truth.

I insist that he (should) meet me;

· in if- clauses and after the verb to wish (see Unit 7) to denote an unreal condition referring to the present or future or to the past if the verb in the if-clause expresses an action simultaneous with the action in the principal clause (the Past Subjunctive):

If I were young!

I wish I were a gipsy.

I wished he were less remote.

He wished she would stop thanking him.

· in conditional sentences both in the subordinate clause (if- clause) to express an unreal condition, and in the principal (main) clause to express an unreal consequence (see Units 2-6):

1) If she were here, you would notice him. (The Past Subjunctive)