To the Contrary
As Nietszche put it, “There are no facts, only interpretations.” Consider the subjunctive mood, which expresses an improbability, a wish, a desire. None of us is baffled about the subjunctive in such clearly contrary sentences as “If I were queen.”The subjunctive construction that is contrary to fact most often perplexes and troubles even longtime editors. “If” does not always introduce a contrary condition. Take a look at sample sentences from one of our encyclopedia projects:“If a samurai were convicted of raping a woman who did not live on his lands, he was banned from participating in military service for 100 days and could have one side of his head shaved.”“If a boy were artistic, he might learn how to paint the pages of books with designs called ‘illuminations.’”“The chemise could be sleeveless if it were worn under a bliaut with long sleeves, or it could have tight, laced sleeves if the bliaut were sleeveless.”
None of these sentences expresses the contrary-to-fact condition, yet the presence of “if” seems to trigger the automatic use of the subjunctive “were.” These sentences express what Words Into Type calls merely a “contingency,” a hypothetical. The subjunctive usage here is incorrect. All these instances of “were” should be “was.”
October 30th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Did you hear guy noir on “prairie home companion,” constructing one correct subjunctive phrase after another? It was quite impressive! This was several months ago, so its a good thing I am just getting up to date with your blog now.
H.L. Mencken hypothesized that the subjunctive was a rare flower of English (or at least of “American”), esp. from ca. 1850 to 1920, and that it was fast fading toward oblivion even as we writing in the 20s and 30s and 40s.
Note that he was a keen descriptivist, without much of an authoritarian streak.