The Subjunctive Mood.

Advanced English Grammar.

The subjunctive is not a tense like the past simple or the present perfect. It’s a mood.

WHAT IS MOOD IN ENGLISH?

A verb expresses an action or a state of being. A verb also has different characteristics. A verb can express
time through past, present, and future tenses. A verb can express active or passive voice (whether the subject does
or receives the action of the verb).

A verb can also express mood. In English grammar, mood is the way someone expresses something, with a
statement or assertion, a wish, or a command. (This is different from the more common definition of  mood: the way
someone feels.)

Mood is expressed through:

 the indicative form (a fact or assertion or question)

 the imperative form (a command)
 the subjunctive form (a wish, a suggestion, a possibility)

The most common mood used in English is the indicative. This is the verb form you use to state a fact or ask a
question. Indicative sentences are the sentences that you use most in conversation.

I went to the store.

She called me before she went to work.

I don’t know where he is.

Are you going out tonight?

The imperative mood is also common. Use the imperative mood to express a command, or something you want
someone else to.

Call me!

Wash the dishes.

Don’t tell anyone.

WHAT IS THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD?

The subjunctive mood expresses an unreal situation. It expresses a possibility, a suggestion, a wish, something
imaginary, or the way that you want something to be.

1. Use the subjunctive in a that-clause after verbs of suggestion or advice.

Her mom suggested that she get a job.

Her father demanded that she turn off the TV.

Her hairstylist recommended that she stop dying her hair.

We insist that he call us as soon as he gets home.

Verbs of advice or suggestion:

advise propose
ask recommend
demand request
insist suggest
prefer urge

2. Use a special subjunctive form of the verb be after if in the second conditional sentence structure.

“If I were you, I would wear something else.”