THE SUBJUNCTIVE IN ENGLISH
In English, mood has to do with clause types rather than verb inflection. It leaves the subjunctive somewhat isolated, since this is not a clause type, but a verb form which in present-day British English plays a very marginal role, although it is rather more common in American English.
As regards the expression of non-factual meaning, the subjunctive has also lost ground. In independent clauses the subjunctive can express a wish, but only in fossilized stereotyped expressions like Long live the Queen! So be it, Heaven help us! Far be it from me to doubt your word. Even in subordinate clauses, a clearly identifiable present subjunctive is limited to the uninflected VG occurring with a 3rd person singular subject in that-clause complements of certain verbs and adjectives, as in: It is right that this House debate this issue. In less formal contexts the indicative or should + infinitive are now used by many speakers. (We recommend that he gets/should get a visa.)
A past subjunctive can be identified only in the form were in the 1st and 3rd persons singular of be (If I were you . . . If he were to return alive . . .) in subordinate clauses of condition and concession, where it is still current in the best usage. Most non-factual notions, such as the expression of doubt and hypothesis, are conveyed in English by other grammatical means, principally any and its compounds and the modal auxiliaries, especially should, could, may and might.
One area in which an indicative–subjunctive contrast is made is in a certain type of if clause, as in:
If he was here I didn’t see him. (indicative)
If he were here I would surely see him. (subjunctive)
Only the second if clause is truly conditional. The first, meaning ‘if it is true that he was here’, is rhetorical condition in that his being here is not a condition for my seeing him. This is also referred to as pragmatic conjunction.
