Comments

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  phuoc nguyen December 21, 2009 4:47

  hi ! nice to meet you .i want discuss and speak with you for improving my english everyday.can you help me? thank you very much.and my english is rather poor.I hope you can fix the spelling for me.
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  Nadira December 21, 2009 1:07

  dear tanya. i found it very interesting re ading your blog. i want to try my hand on essay writing for your kind consideration as an english teacher ,please accept freindship.
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  Sayidin, S.Pd December 10, 2009 5:38

  hi. Tanya. Nice to meet you! I'm happy you are my friend. I also like your article and some photos. best greetings from Indonesia.
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  Jaushee December 7, 2009 13:29

  what are Your Favorite colours......
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  Jaushee December 7, 2009 12:51

  no problem its just for inform you that im interested to help you...
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  Jaushee December 7, 2009 12:35

  this is just a sample........

  
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  Jaushee December 7, 2009 5:10

  one more thing let me know the size of the cover Page...
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  Jaushee December 7, 2009 5:08

  oK IW ILL DESIGN IT.....you hav to know one thing, there is no word document support for printing....i will sent it as jpg file,that is use for printing....dont worry about that because for every problem there is a solution
  
  regards
  
  Joshi
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  Bill the English Teacher December 2, 2009 19:23

  I am very aware of what a great English teacher you are and know that you have studied our language thoroughly, but even we native speakers have to check the grammar books to know what is correct and what is not. And then we have to look at how the common English-speaker uses or abuses the rules. I am sure you have the same situation in your language. So it makes sense that you would check with another English teacher to affirm your knowledge of English. I am honored that you bounce your ideas off me.
  Now foryour questions:
  1. When the common speaker does not use the subjunctive properly the listener uses the context of the sentence to decide if the speaker is talking about something unreal or actual. But this dropping of the subjunctive does open the interpretation of the listener to misunderstanding. I find that simplification of English trades off with misunderstanding. So the listener may have to clarify by asking if this is in reality or if the speaker is just speaking of an unattainable wish, fantasy or hypothetical situation. Because of this I use the subjunctive to be clearer.
  2. I am familiar with the subjunctive being required by certain verbs in Spanish, which I speak a little. But in English I know of no rules for certain verbs always requiring the subjunctive. It is more like our verbs can function in the indicative mood (true statements) or subjunctive mood (unattainable, fantasy or hypothetical).
  But I do think of the verbs hope and wish. I can stay I hope you can (or will) be happy in your new home. But I have to say I wish you would be happy in your new home. I cannot say I hope you would be happy or I wish you can (or will). To complicate this, if I say all this in the past I have to use would or could because they are the past of can and will. So in the past I can say, I hoped you could (or would) be happy in your new home. Concerning wish, I have to say I had wished you could or would be happy in your new home.
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  Bill the English Teacher December 1, 2009 19:13

  The best English is to use the past subjunctive. My brush looks as if it had a soul. The change in tense indicates an untrue situation (subjunctive mood) as you said. However, common speech often leaves out this mood switch and the subjunctive seems to be dying in English. The other common use is with the verb to be. If I were rich I could travel more. This is more commonly used but is dying as well. Language tends to cull itself as time goes by and we tend to simplify it.
  
  Soul as a singular countable noun always uses the indefinite or definite article.
  
  I am glad to help.