Date:  Wed, 11 Oct 1995 09:05:00 -0700

From:  "Sheridan, Kathleen" <K.SHERIDAN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CGNET.COM>

Subject: Re: as it were



The subjunctive is still surviving in the US, but in the UK it is almost

dead. Many of the people I work with are native UK-speakers and some of the

things they come up with are jarring to my ear, to say the least.



For "John suggested that Jim _go_ to the show" you find the following

variations:



The most innocuous is "John suggested that Jim _should go_ to the show."



The one that drives me wild is "John suggested that Jim _went_ to the show."



And I suspect that there are many people who can't deal with it at all and

try to use sentences that never require the subjenctive.