One of the most fascinating things about language is that we can use it so well, so expertly, without understanding how we do it. The following two sentences are perfect examples. If the burglar was ...

Grammatically, the subjunctive is a verb mood, not a verb tense. Most sentences use the indicative mood; the subjunctive in English has fairly restricted uses. Often, subjunctive forms don't look any ...

Every time I hear someone say, “If I were you” or “I wish I were going,” it always surprises me. When I hear people say things like, “It’s crucial you be there,” I’m even more surprised. Chances are, ...

I begin this lesson on a difficult grammatical concept called the “subjunctive mood” with a memory of one of the first pornographic films I ever saw. It was called “The Secret Lives of Romeo and ...

In a recent TED Talk, Phuc Tran talks about his love for grammar, particularly the use of the subjunctive and indicative. He uses these two types of verbal moods as a tool to look at the world and one ...

Sometimes you might write about things that aren’t certain, or that you imagine might happen. This is called the subjunctive or the subjunctive mood. If I were in charge, I’d make bedtime later. It's ...

For grammar bullies “the subjunctive” is sacred ground. Reforms proposed for the British national curriculum in 2012 required teaching use of the subjunctive not later than sixth grade. People seem to ...

It is often bemoaned in Britain that English is going to pieces—and Americans are generally to blame. Whether you call it decline or not, the moaners are on to something: America has indeed produced ...

READING a story on the fate of European newspapers, your columnist was drowning in bad news—newsrooms decimated, advertisers fleeing—but then a strange sentence appeared: Even Rupert Murdoch, who ...