Stephanie was here. I wish Stephanie were here. Tim picks up the dry cleaning. It’s imperative that Tim pick up the dry cleaning. You are on time. It’s crucial you be on time. Have you ever noticed ...

Have we decided yet? Is this "Lent, Again?" Or is it "Lent, Still?" The past year has demonstrated a strange elastic quality about time. Time drags but it also passes in a heartbeat. In the odd ...

Why is Christian Science in our name? Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and we’ve always been transparent about that. The church publishes the ...

WHAT is it about the subjunctive that gets not just a few English users, whether native or nonnative speakers, so intimidated and prone to error when using it?

“If there were a Form 3, you would have already filled it out.” Reader Jessica had a question about a sentence like this. The speaker already knew about a Form 1 and a Form 2. The existence of Form 3, ...

Olly Jezek from the Czech Republic writes: Please could you explain how to use the subjunctive? E.g.: ‘It’s important that the lesson be funny.’ When should we use ‘be’ and why? Maria Goranova from ...

First there was President Clinton's defense during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, in which he raised the issue of the meaning of "is." Now we have the "hortatory subjunctive" defense. In trying to ...

This is a preview. Log in through your library . Abstract Subjunctive clauses of many Romance and Slavic languages show subject obviation phenomena; that is, the requirement that a pronominal subject ...