26 September 2013

subjunctive

[suhb-juhngk-tiv]
Grammar
adjective

1. (in English and certain other languages) noting or pertaining to a mood or mode of the verb that may be used for subjective, doubtful, hypothetical, or grammatically subordinate statements or questions, as the mood of be in if this be treason. Compare imperative ( def 3 ) , indicative ( def 2 ) .
noun
2. the subjunctive mood or mode.
3. a verb in the subjunctive mood or form.
Origin:
1520–30; < Late Latin subjunctīvus, equivalent to subjunct ( us ) (past participle of subjungere to subjoin, equivalent to sub- sub- + jung ( ere ) to join + -tus past participle suffix) + -īvus -ive

Related forms
sub·junc·tive·ly, adverb

Usage note
The subjunctive mood of the verb, once used extensively in English, has largely disappeared today. The subjunctive survives, though by no means consistently, in sentences with conditional clauses contrary to fact and in subordinate clauses after verbs like wish: If the house were nearer to the road, we would hear more traffic noise. I wish I were in Florida.

Today’s aphorism

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.

– T. S. Eliot

On this day

26 September 1181 – birth of St Francis of Assisi, Italian friar and founder of the men’s Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St Clare and the Third Order of St Francis. Although these are all Catholic Orders, he was never ordained as a Catholic priest. Died 3 October 1226.

26 September 1888 – birth of Thomas Stearns Eliot (T.S. Eliot), poet, playwright, publisher, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, described as ‘arguably the most important English language poet of the 20th century’. Wrote ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock‘, ‘The Waste Land‘, ‘Ash Wednesday‘, ‘The Hollow Men‘. Died 4 January 1965.

26 September 1902 – death of Levi Strauss, German-born, American clothing manufacturer. Most notable for Levi jeans. Born 26 February 1829.

26 September 1907 – New Zealand declares independence from Great Britain.

26 September 1960 – Fidel Castro delivers the longest speech in U.N. history, at 4 hours, 29 minutes.

26 September 1983 – Australia wins the America’s Cup yacht race; the first nation to take the cup off America in 132 years.

26 September 1997 – the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi (in Assisi, Italy) partially collapses after an earthquake strikes the region.