- published: 03 Oct 2009
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In English grammar, the English subjunctive is the English manifestation of the subjunctive mood, a verb mood typically used in dependent clauses to express a wish, an emotion, a possibility, a judgement, an opinion, a necessity, or an action that is unlikely to occur or did not occur. It sometimes is referred to as the conjunctive mood, as it usually follows a subordinate conjunction.
The subjunctive in Modern English occurs in a variety of contexts in which the form of the verb used is different from that which it normally would be, given the implied time of the action. Regardless of the subject, the form of the present subjunctive verb used to express present or past desires and the like in that clauses is the bare form of the infinitive (not preceded by "to"). Hence, the present subjunctive of "to go" is "I go", "you go", "he/she/it go", "we go", "they go". For instance: "It was required that he go to the back of the line" (compared with the indicative "Everyone knows that he went to the back of the line"); "It is required that he go to the back of the line" (compared with the indicative "Everyone knows that he goes to the back of the line").