The present subjunctive tense is used to express doubt, possibility, requests, and after verbs of emotion. It is also used after certain phrases like 'cuando' and 'para que'.

For grammar bullies “the subjunctive” is sacred ground. Reforms proposed for the British national curriculum in 2012 required teaching use of the subjunctive not later than sixth grade.

Of course it does not mean that the subjunctive will definitely be used, but it is a helpful signal. Alternatively, you could sit down and memorise the dozens of verbs and phrases that lead to the ...

“Painless Grammar” ($9) wouldn’t tell me. All the books listed above are happy to tell me when to use the subjunctive mood. But none tell me how to use the subjunctive mood. The closest any ...

The transatlantic difference is that, in America, the subjunctive remained what linguists call “productive”, meaning that people use it in sentences never uttered before. Americans naturally ...

It took your columnist another three reads before diagnosing what probably turned this sentence unintentionally backwards: confusion with the elusive subjunctive. The sentence would have made ...