English Subjunctive - Use of The Present Subjunctive

Use of The Present Subjunctive

The main use of the English present subjunctive, called the mandative or jussive subjunctive, occurs in that clauses (declarative content clauses; the word that can sometimes be omitted) expressing a circumstance which is desired, demanded, recommended, necessary, or similar. Such a clause may be dependent on verbs like insist, suggest, demand, prefer, adjectives like necessary, desirable, or nouns like recommendation, necessity; it may be part of the expression in order that... (or some formal uses of so that...); it may also stand independently as the subject of a clause or as a predicative expression.

The form is called the present subjunctive because it resembles the present indicative in form, not because it need refer to the present time. In fact this form can equally well be used in sentences referring to past, future or hypothetical time (the time frame is normally expressed in the verb of the main clause).

Examples:

• I insist (that) he leave now.
• We asked that it be done yesterday.
• It might be desirable that you not publish the story.
• I support the recommendation that they not be punished.
• I braked in order that the car stay on the road.
• That he appear in court is a necessary condition for his being granted bail.
• Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is, that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. —George Haven Putnam

Note that after some words both indicative and subjunctive are possible, with difference in meaning:

• I insist that he is here (indicative, a forceful assertion of the fact that he is here)
• I insist that he be here (subjunctive, a demand that the condition of his being here be fulfilled)
• It is important that she has received appropriate training in preparation for her jump (indicative, a fact)
• It is important that she have received appropriate training in preparation for her jump (subjunctive, a condition)

Notice that the subjunctive is not generally used after verbs such as hope and expect, or after verbs that use a different syntax, such as want (it is not usual to say *I want that he wash up; the typical syntax is I want him to wash up).

Another use of the present subjunctive is in clauses with the conjunction lest, which generally express a potential adverse event:

• I am running faster lest she catch me (i.e. "in order that she not catch me")
• I was worried lest she catch me (i.e. "that she might catch me")

The present subjunctive is occasionally found in clauses expressing a condition, such as If I be found guilty... (more common is am or should be). This usage is mostly old-fashioned or excessively formal, although it is found in some common fixed expressions such as if need be. Perhaps somewhat more common is the use after whether in the sense of "no matter whether": Whether they be friend or foe, we shall give them shelter. In both of these uses it is possible to invert subject and verb and omit the conjunction; see Inversion in condition clauses below. Analogous uses are occasionally found after other conjunctions, such as unless (and possibly until), whoever, wherever, etc.: I shall not do it unless I be instructed; Whoever he be, he shall not go unpunished.

In most of the above examples a form with should can be used as an alternative: I insist that he should leave now etc. This is more common in British English than American English. In some cases, such as after in order that, another alternative is to use may or (especially with past reference) might:

• I am putting your dinner in the oven in order that it (may) keep warm.
• He wrote it in his diary in order that he (might) remember.

A present subjunctive verb form is sometimes found in a main clause, with the force of a third-person imperative (and such forms can alternatively be analyzed as imperatives). This is most common nowadays in established phrases, such as (God) bless you, God save the Queen, heaven forbid, peace be with you, truth be told, so be it, suffice it to say, long live..., woe betide... It can be found used more broadly in some archaic English. An equivalent construction is that with may and subject-verb inversion: May God bless you etc.

See also Archaic uses below.