Re:How Language Seems to Shape One's View of the World
by thaumasiotes on Friday January 03, 2014 @12:36AM
(#7004330)
> The idea of a subjunctive tense only exists implicitly in English
I can't say I understand what you mean by implicit, but this is a very strange thing to say. The following sentences use a subjunctive verb:
1. I demand that you return my saw.
2. I will ask that he not show overt disrespect in my class.
As you can see, the english subjunctive form (subjunctive is not a tense; it is a mood) is productive and applies to any verb in the language (and is different from the present tense for every verb in the language), which places it on roughly the same level of existence as, say, the past tense.
I can't say I understand what you mean by implicit, but this is a very strange thing to say. The following sentences use a subjunctive verb:
1. I demand that you return my saw.
2. I will ask that he not show overt disrespect in my class.
As you can see, the english subjunctive form (subjunctive is not a tense; it is a mood) is productive and applies to any verb in the language (and is different from the present tense for every verb in the language), which places it on roughly the same level of existence as, say, the past tense.