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One of our twentysomethings emailed me about a sentence in an upcoming article:
“Beauty is so difficult,” Mayor Massimo Cacciari
said, sounding as if he were addressing a
graduate seminar.
Twentysomething then asked, How does the use of “were” jive with a singular subject. Any explanation?
Of course there’s an explanation, and it’s called the subjunctive.
The fact that someone from Generation Y raised this question confirms my suspicion that only those of us of a certain age are truly comfortable with the subjunctive, and sometimes even we waffle.
One reason for the confusion is that although it’s easy to grasp the concept that the subjunctive should be used for statements contrary to fact, it’s not always easy to determine what truly is in this category. There seem to be degrees of “contraryness.”
Cacciari is not a professor and was not addressing a graduate seminar, and so the writer used the subjunctive (“were” being the subjunctive form of third-person singular). On the other hand, there's nothing making it absolutely impossible for the Italian gentleman to address a graduate seminar. It may not be likely and wasn’t happening at the time, but it's possible, and so some writers would justify "was."
There are times when subjunctive is so natural to the ear that we don’t pause to think about it:
I wish he were here to enjoy the meal with us.
If I were you, I'd clean up this mess before your mother gets home.
For me, the subjunctive, with its elegance and formality, is worth defending. I hope that it does not disappear with a lessening of grammar instruction in our schools. But I also realize, to echo Mayor
Cacciari: Subjunctive is so difficult!
If I were Queen, I would demand each person use the subjunctive.
Art: Mariel Furlong
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Comments
Apr 9, 2009 11AM #
Studying a foreign language is still one of the best ways to learn how essential knowledge of grammar is to good communication. I say that in spite of the fact that after two years of high-school Latin, I never learned to write a complex sentence. At 67, I'm still grateful to my mother for not letting me get away with sloppy language as a kid. She introduced me not only to the subjunctive, but to an encyclopedia article on grammar that was full of elaborate diagrams. I returned time and again to the fascinating pictures made of words. Does anyone diagram a sentence anymore?
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