| 词组 | subjunctive |
| 释义 | subjunctive • Fading into the sunset, probably forever, is that splendid old mood we have known as the subjunctive —Richard L. Tobin, Righting Words, May/June 1988 Another writer, it seems, has discovered the disappearing subjunctive; observers of the language have been reading obsequies for the subjunctive for a century or more. As long ago as 1907 the brothers Fowler were quoting "an experienced word-actuary" who put the subjunctive's life expectancy at a generation. The word-actuary was Henry Bradley, one of the OED editors, and he made the statement in a book, The Making of English, published in 1904. But even Bradley was not breaking new ground. Ayres 1881 paraphrased three unnamed grammarians who thought the subjunctive more or less defunct. One of them was probably William Dwight Whitney, who is quoted in Finegan 1980 as remarking in an 1877 grammar that "the subjunctive, as a separate mode, is almost lost and out of mind in our language." Even earlier, at the end of the 18th century, Noah Webster was either regretting or welcoming the loss of the subjunctive (he took different views in different works). And even before that Priestley—we assume from our 1798 edition that it was in his 1761 book—observed that the subjunctive (he called it conjunctive, after the practice of Samuel Johnson) was "much neglected by many of our best writers." The 18th-century grammarians had barely discovered the subjunctive, so apparently it was in decline as soon as it was recognized. The historical grammarians show that it has, in fact, been in decline since Old English, when the modal auxiliaries began to take over some of its functions. But the subjunctive has not disappeared. H. L. Mencken, who had declared the subjunctive "virtually extinct in the vulgar tongue" in The American Language (4th ed., 1936), commented in his second supplement (1948): • On higher levels, of course, the subjunctive shows more life, and there is ground for questioning the conclusion of Bradley, Krapp, Vizetelly, Fowler and other authorities that it is on its way out. Mencken made the distinction between the written and spoken language that many other commentators have overlooked. Our evidence, mostly written, bears out Mencken's observation. The subjunctive in modern English is, however, an all but invisible verb form. Its chief characteristic for most verbs is a lack of inflection, and so it is only noticeable when it turns up in a context calling for an inflection. The present subjunctive of the verb think, for instance, is think, and you really only notice that it is a subjunctive when it appears with a subject that would ordinarily require thinks. The verb whose subjunctive forms are most noticeable is be, with be in the present, which contrasts with all the indicative forms (am, are, is), and were in the past, which frequently (as we shall see) contrasts with was. It is this latter contrast, especially in various conditional clauses, that has stirred the most controversy. We will come to that problem in due course, but first let us take note of two uncontroversial uses of the subjunctive which are seldom considered in notices of its death. The subjunctive is preserved like a fossil in a number of fixed formulas—so be it, be that as it may, Heaven forbid, come what may, suffice it to say, and so forth— that are used every day without much thought about their peculiarity. An example or two of some others: • I write entirely by smell as it were —Flannery O'Connor, letter, 19 Feb. 1956 • ... willing to make digressions and, if need be, to get nowhere —Leacock 1943 • "... and far be it from me to throw any fanciful impediment in the way " —Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814 • ... the randomness and drift, the sheer, as it were, deadness —Wilfrid Sheed, The Good Word and Other Words, 1978 These phrases excite no controversy. Also uncontroversial is the so-called mandative subjunctive—a highfalutin term for the subjunctive found in the common parliamentary formula "I move that the meeting be adjourned." This subjunctive occurs in clauses following such verbs as ask, demand, recommend, suggest, insist and such phrases as it is advisable and it is necessary. • ... it was recommended that the President not inform Congress —Edwin Meese 3d, quoted in The Tower Commission Report, 1987 • The author suggested that buildings be found that are near high-voltage power lines —Jon M. Van Dyke, Center Mag., July/August 1970 • What she found led her to recommend ... that thalidomide be barred from the market —Current Biography, March 1966 • ... when to recommend that a student seek help — Nancy S. Prichard, College Composition and Communication, February 1970 • Mrs. Clark suggested that the class learn some simple first-aid and health rules —Matilda Bailey et al., Our English Language, 3d ed., 1963 (6th-grade text) This use of the subjunctive is regular. Todd & Hancock 1986 notes that these sentences are of a rather formal structure. The controversial uses of the subjunctive occur with verbs of wishing and in contrary-to-fact conditional clauses, almost always in contexts involving the contrast of the subjunctive were with the indicative was. Here are some examples of the subjunctive in such contexts: • I wish there weren't stones in my boots, so I do, and I wish to God I had a cup of tea and a fresh egg — James Stephens, The Crock of Gold, 1912 • ... although I wish that Ralph Mooney's sweet-and-sad singing steel guitar were a bit more up-front — Tony Glover, Rolling Stone, 18 July 1974 • If I were younger and could see anything at all I would appear or let someone make a film —James Thurber, letter, 15 Aug. 1959 • ... brings it down gently on the driver's shoulder, as if he were bestowing knighthood —Jay Mclnerney, Bright Lights, Big City, 1984 • ... minutely scrutinizes the novels along with the writer, as though she were inviting us to watch her take an extremely rare watch to pieces and put it together again —Mollie Panter-Downes, New Yorker, 4 Nov. 1985 • Today it is snowing here & were I not confined to my bed taking two-toned pills I would be painting a snow scene —Flannery O'Connor, letter, March 1960 • Were a war to break out —Kosta Tsipsis, Discover, April 1987 From these examples it can be seen that the subjunctive is likely to be found after the verb wish (and perhaps in other expressions of a wish), after if, as if, and as though, and at the beginning of a clause or sentence stating something contrary to fact or hypothetical. Hall 1917 and Jespersen 1909-49 (vol. 4) observe that was began to compete with were in these contexts sometime around the end of the 16th century (Jespersen's earliest example is from Christopher Marlowe's Hero and Leander, published in 1598, five years after Marlowe's death). The next earliest examples are from the second half of the 17th century, however, so we may hazard a guess that was did not become frequent in this use until around the end of the 17th century—beginning, say, with Defoe (Jespersen cites examples from Defoe and other early 18th-century writers such as Swift and Addison). Jespersen hazards no guess as to why was began to compete with the older were, other than to note that in some contexts was is more emphatic. Such an emphatic was can be illustrated, with a bit of scene-setting, by a few lines from George Farquhar's The Inconstant ( 1702). Captain Duretete has designs upon a young lady named Bisarre who had adopted a pose of being absorbed in the study of philosophy. Duretete is sure he can win her by philosophical argument and bribes her maid for admittance to her rooms in order to talk. The maid secretes him behind a screen. But when Bisarre comes in and sees no one around, she drops her philosophical pose, throws down her book, and calls for music. • BISARRE. Come wench, let's be free; call in the fiddle, there's nobody near us. • Enter Fiddler. CAPTAIN DURETETE [aside]. Would to the Lord there was not! But most of the examples, in Jespersen and elsewhere, are not notably emphatic: • I wish my cold hand was in the warmest place about you —Jonathan Swift, Journal to Stella, 5 Feb. 1711 • I wish H. was not quite so fat —Lord Byron, letter, 8 Dec. 1811 • I wish it was Elinor and I seeing you about now instead of them two irresponsible wastrels our son and daughter —Robert Frost, letter, 1 Nov. 1927 • I wish I was six feet tall and I wouldn't mind if I was handsome —And More by Andy Rooney, 1982 Was is likewise common in unemphatic contexts after if, as if, and as though: • If Eastbourne was only a mile off from Scarborough, I would come and see you tomorrow —Lewis Carroll, letter, 14 July 1877 • The situation in the Middle East ... might be very different if there was an international left with a strong base —Noam Chomsky, Columbia Forum, Winter 1969 • Why do I grin when I see her, as if I was delighted? —W. M. Thackeray, The Book of Snobs, 1846 • ... and the women can all carry me in their arms as though I was a baby —Henry Adams, letter, 9 Oct. 1890 It may seem that was is crowding out subjunctive were in informal contexts, such as the letters and journals among our examples here. But not necessarily: • ... if you were allowed to cut your finger with it, once a week —Lewis Carroll, letter, 23 Jan. 1862 • If I were ten years younger I might have tackled one of these assignments —Groucho Marx, letter, 5 July 1961 • ... I should feel as if I were flirting with my aunt — Henry Adams, letter, 23 Nov. 1859 Jespersen observes that subjunctive were is least likely to be displaced in the constructions without a conjunction in which it begins a clause or sentence. But even here he found a few examples with was, like this one: • Was I Diogenes, I would not move out of a kilderkin into a hogshead —Charles Lamb, letter, 29 Mar. 1809 One of the curiosities of the was-were competition is the tendency of many writers to use both, often very close together, even in the same sentence. The tendency was noted as early as the 18th century (by Priestley 1798) and Jespersen has numerous examples. Here are a couple we have found: • ... and all staring, gravely, as if it were a funeral, at me as if I was the coffin —Henry Adams, letter, 15 May 1859 • I wish I was a dog and Ronald Reagan were a Jelly Bean tree —Reinhold Aman, Maledicta, Summer/ Winter 1982 It should be remarked that if and as if do not always introduce an unreal condition and therefore if and as if do not necessarily call for a subjunctive: • If he was to marry the queen, the power of the nobles was such that he would have first to gain their approbation —John Butt, English Literature in the Mid-Eighteenth Century, edited & completed by Geoffrey Carnall, 1979 • ... Freud felt as if he was being observed; raising his eyes he found some children staring down at him — E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime, 1975 • ... asked Dick if there was any way that he could get us to meet before the 3 Nov. meeting —Oliver North, quoted in The Tower Commission Report Sometimes the subjunctive were is actually used when there is no unreal or hypothetical condition; it is probably triggered somewhat automatically by a preceding if: • He was asked if he were apprehensive —N. Y. Times, 16 Jan. 1972 • I do not even know if she were actually a War Widow —Richard Cobb, Still Life, 1983 • It could have been then; if it weren't, it was certainly the next day —Donald Regan, testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings, 1987 This use is considered hypercorrect by those who notice it; it would be safe to say, however, that very few notice it. To repeat, we do not really know why, three or four hundred years ago, was began to compete with the older subjunctive were in wishes and hypothetical and other unreal statements. It simply happened. The success that the indicative form has had since then has probably been abetted by the near invisibility of the subjunctive. We do not have any distinctive subjunctive forms in modern English; every one we can identify as a subjunctive is simply an indicative form doing double duty. The subjunctive as an entity, then, has very little support in the grammar, and much of the time the subjunctive and indicative are identical: • And here in Missouri we don't charge our kinfolks with fees like we would do if they were strangers —Luther Burrus, quoted in Merle Miller, Plain Speaking, 1973 Little wonder, then, that the subjunctive has so little impact on the general consciousness. But the old forms die hard. If it is generally true, as commentators have been saying for a century, that the subjunctive is dying out of the common speech (as distinct from writing), there are still signs that it is not yet extinct. A colleague reports hearing this subjunctive in the chatter of two children on a Chicago subway train: • If I were fat like you, I wouldn't.... And clearly the subjunctive is not gone from writing, no matter how many commentators say that it is not as common now as it was a century ago. You will doubtless find many uses for it in your own writing, whether you are aware of them or not. See also if 3. |
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