Using the Subjunctive Correctly in English
most people don’t know how to use the subjunctive in English. You use the subjunctive in counterfactual statements (“If I were going to the store…”, NOT “If I was going to the store…”), wishful statements (“If I were a hammer….” NOT “If I was a hammer…”) and conjuctive formulations (“Lest you misuse the subjunctive, read here for more information”).
It’s annoying enough when people misuse the subjunctive in everyday conversation. When the title of a children’s book, however, is “I Wish I Was…” I have to bang my head against the wall. Who was your editor? Who? And from what cut-rate English program did she graduate? I ask because she needs a good slap, her advisor needs a slap or two and the entire program needs a few kicks in the shin. The publishing house should feel some shame too.
Can you tell this is one of my pet peeves? When I am reading one of my novels just because it has no redeeming literary merit does not, in my opinion, exempt it from meeting standard grammar requirements. When the subjunctive gets misused it throws me right out of the story, breaks into my mental flow, and that annoys me.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled mommyblog already in progress wherein my son is trying to balance a red block on his head for reasons that I am sure would make sense if you were one.
It’s annoying enough when people misuse the subjunctive in everyday conversation. When the title of a children’s book, however, is “I Wish I Was…” I have to bang my head against the wall. Who was your editor? Who? And from what cut-rate English program did she graduate? I ask because she needs a good slap, her advisor needs a slap or two and the entire program needs a few kicks in the shin. The publishing house should feel some shame too.
Can you tell this is one of my pet peeves? When I am reading one of my novels just because it has no redeeming literary merit does not, in my opinion, exempt it from meeting standard grammar requirements. When the subjunctive gets misused it throws me right out of the story, breaks into my mental flow, and that annoys me.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled mommyblog already in progress wherein my son is trying to balance a red block on his head for reasons that I am sure would make sense if you were one.
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