Re: Grammatical Summary of Kemata

 Anton Sherwood <bronto@...> writes:

> "Thomas R. Wier" wrote:
> >   (a) The judge suggested that he be put in confinement.
> >   (b) The judge suggested that he is put in confinement.
> >
> > The subjunctive in (a) implies that the judge wants some particular
> > action to occur; the indicative in (b) implies that the judge thinks
> > that a particular set of cirumstances is the case, but does not
> > comment on whether that is a good or a bad thing.
> >
> > (Not all English speakers distinguish between these two;  the
> > lack of such a distinction seems to be especially common in
> > Britain as opposed to any of her former colonies.)
>
>
> I think most Americans would use an auxiliary
> rather than a bare subjunctive: "...that he should be..."
> (or in this case, undoing the passive, a gerund:
> "...suggested putting him...")
While "that he should be...." seems appropriate and would be used, I'd say '...that
he be..." with probably just the same frequency, it doesn't sound at all weird.

Elliott


> Anton Sherwood  --  http://www.ogre.nu/