Re: Grammar gurus: I have a question

["Michael West" <mbwest -at- bigpond -dot- com>]

There most certainly is a US/UK difference on this use of the subjunctive,
as I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread.

This has led some observers to speak of the "disappearing subjunctive" in
Britain among educated speakers and writers.

A growing tendency to use the indicative verb  ("I suggest that he is
fired") where traditional grammar prescribes the subjunctive ("I suggest
that he be fired") is also mirrored in Australian usage. I'm not sure of the
state of play in Canada.

In the US, usage handbooks, as well as educated usage, come down very firmly
in the ""I suggest that he be fired" camp.

In Britain, the issue is not nearly as clear cut, with many arguing that
this use of the subjunctive is archaic.

To those of us raised on traditional grammar rules, this new-fangled
indicative substitution just sounds wrong. More precisely, it sounds like
hypercorrection by timid speakers who have no idea what "subjunctive" refers
to.

--
Mike West
(US expat in Australia)


> 
> I think there may be a dialect difference on this. I'm Canadian, and at
> one point was working for a British organisation.  I was amazed when
> a colleague said "Fred called. He suggested that you rang him back."
> 
> To me, that is no more grammatical than "I seen George yesterday."
> It /must/ have "ring"! However, she was educated, working as an
> English teacher. I asked various Brit colleagues; quite a few found
> "rang" acceptable there. After that, I listened for that difference
> and found it moderately often. "I suggest that he is fired" where
> I would have "be" for "is", and other such things.
> 
> --
> Sandy Harris,
> Quanzhou, Fujian, China

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