English Subjunctive - Inversion in Condition Clauses

Inversion in Condition Clauses

As already mentioned, if clauses containing past subjunctive were, as well as some other constructions that are used similarly to subjunctives, can be recast using inversion of subject and verb, with the conjunction if being dropped.

Examples of the principal constructions are given below.

• Inversion with were as simple past subjunctive: Were you here,... (equivalent to If you were here,...)
• Inversion with were in compound forms: Were he to shoot,... (equivalent to If he were to shoot, i.e. If he shot)
• Inversion with should: Should you feel hungry,... (equivalent to If you (should) feel hungry)
• Inversion with had in the pluperfect: Had he written,... (equivalent to If he had written)

The last of these forms is used chiefly for counterfactual conditions referring to a past time, in sentences of the type called "third conditional" in modern textbooks (and also in "mixed conditionals"). See conditional sentence.

Inversion is also possible in the case of the (rarer) use of the present subjunctive in condition clauses and whether clauses. For example:

• Be he called on by God,... (equivalent to If he be called on by God; more usual are If he is..., If he should be..., Should he be...)
• Be they friend or foe (equivalent to Whether they be friend or foe)

Examples of such usage are preserved in some set expressions and well-known phrases: come what may; come Monday (etc.); Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home (from "Home! Sweet Home!"); Be he alive or be he dead (from Jack and the Beanstalk).