When I was learning Italian grammar (some time ago now) I used to view the subjunctive mood as something of a nuisance. My feeling then was: why the heck do we need this? After all, English seems to do just fine without having any way to show the difference between a plain statement of fact and a subjective or doubtful kind of assertion or opinion.
But I now wonder whether, in actual fact, English (and other modern languages which have lost the subjunctive mood) have become somewhat “dumbed down”? I wonder whether as a result they are less well suited to - for example - academic writing or serious journalism?
One of the glorious things about Ancient Greek is the subtle and nuanced shades of expression which it allows. (I understand that even the imperative can make a distinction between a one-off command, and an instruction to do something on a continuing and on-going basis!) Italian may not be quite that subtle, but it still seems somewhat richer than English.
Of course there are other ways to express “subjunctivity” in modern English. For example, in the above sentence I said that Italian SEEMS somewhat richer than English (not quite the same as crudely asserting that it IS richer than English.)
But still, the more I learn about Ancient Greek, the more crude and unsophisticated some modern languages seem to be by comparison! :-0
Heaven forbid (and perish the thought) that the subjunctive be dropped from our language. If it were, it would inevitably lead to poorer English. Come what may, it shall remain ! Far be it from me to suggest, however, that it still be included in English grammar. Truth be told, I wish I knew. Suffice it to say that if I were you Jay, I would insist that everyone speak with subjunctive silliness. God save the Queen !
It’s best explained by an example. Let’s imagine you think Steve is a hit man (but you don’t know it for a fact.) In English you can really only make a subjective assertion like this by saying something like: “It seems to me, Steve is a hit man”…I would say Steve is a hit man", etc. But actually you are using the indicative “IS”.
(If you said this, the chances are you’d soon get Steve growling that you had no actual proof, that you couldn’t substantiate the statement…! :-0)
However, in Italian it’s nice and clear:
Steve e’ un killer professionale (plain statement of fact)
Penso che Steve sia un killer professionale (statement of subjective opinion)
This tutorial was written by a person made of the right stuff!
NOT
“It is important that he tries harder” (what everyone actually says nowadays)
BUT
“It is important that he try harder” (Jawohl!)
Alas this only applies to the he/she form, and doesn’t seem to suggest any remotely realistic subjunctive for “is” (i.e. where “sia” is used in the above Italian example.)
If you ask me, we may need to go back to Anglo Saxon? :-0
Be that as it may, English is not the only language to have lost out, the German subjunctive is also getting rarer. There is a wonderful combination of imperative and subjunctive: Sagen Sie ihm, er möge sich zur Verfügung halten, er habe sich zur Verfügung zu halten.
A few years ago I spent a lot of time studying the subjunctive in German, only to be told by my penfriends that unless I had taken some kind of Goethe pills I should cut it out and write in modern German.
