Re: The "English Subjunctive"

From: Thomas Bushnell, BSG (tb+usenet_at_becket.net)
Date: 08/17/04 

Date: 17 Aug 2004 13:39:16 -0700

Bob Cunningham <exw6sxq@earthlink.net> writes:

> "When we lived on the farm, we would sometimes eat breakfast
> before dawn." Is that "would eat" subjunctive by you, and
> is that also that?

No, not that time. But this, as has already been said (were you not
reading that part of the thread) is no objection, because it is very
common for the same words to sometimes be one form and sometimes
another. Just as "legam" is sometimes subjunctive in Latin, sometimes
not; just as "is closed" is sometimes passive voice in English,
sometimes just a present verb and descriptive participle.

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