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Aaron Davies
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| Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 7:09 am
Post subject: Niceties of the Subjunctive |
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"I'd swear she was flirting with me."
?"If I didn't know better, I'd swear she were flirting with me."
Comments?
--
Aaron Davies
Opinions expressed are solely those of a random number generator.
Magnae clunes mihi placent, nec possum de hac re mentiri.
Ho! Ha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Thrust! |
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Adrian Smith
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| Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 7:09 am
Post subject: Re: Niceties of the Subjunctive |
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Aaron Davies wrote:
| Quote: | "I'd swear she was flirting with me."
?"If I didn't know better, I'd swear she were flirting with me."
Comments?
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The "were" is happiest in imaginationary situations like "if I were
you". I'd go for the past here.
--
Adrian Smith |
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Donna Richoux
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| Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 2:33 pm
Post subject: Re: Niceties of the Subjunctive |
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Aaron Davies <aaron@avalon.pascal-central.com.invalid> wrote:
| Quote: | "I'd swear she was flirting with me."
?"If I didn't know better, I'd swear she were flirting with me."
Comments?
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The second doesn't sound right. The "subjunctive" goes in the
conditional part of the sentence, not the descriptive conclusion --
"Even if she *were* flirting (which she wasn't), then I would never have
responded."
Note you also save it for contra-factual situations -- you strongly
believe she was *not* flirting, despite what someone else is insisting.
--
Best - Donna Richoux |
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Michael J Hardy
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:07 am
Post subject: Re: Niceties of the Subjunctive |
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Aaron Davies (aaron@avalon.pascal-central.com.invalid) wrote:
| Quote: | "I'd swear she was flirting with me."
?"If I didn't know better, I'd swear she were flirting with me."
Comments?
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In "I'd swear she was flirting with me", I think "was" would
always be understood as past tense. If present were intended,
one would say "I'd swear she is flirting with me." In the
phrase "She was flirting with me", the verb is a simple
indicative, not a counterfactual conditional. If a counter-
factual conditional were needed, one would write "she would
be flirting with me" (e.g. "If she realized who I am, she'd
be flirting with me"). "Were" is used in the clause following
"if"; in the clause following then, one writes "would be".
All of the above is intended as descriptive, not prescriptive.
But on the prescriptive side, I'm awarding you 20 points for
the correct use of the word "nicety", which seems no longer
well known. -- Mike Hardy |
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