"The cat is in the box"

[newbie]

Hi,
Please have a look at this sentence:

The cat is in the box
Supposing someone read this sentence and he/she say:

There are two ... in that sentence
=> what should be chosen to fill in the blank: "the"'s or"the's" or anything else?
And in my question I used "read" and "say" (without "s") as I think they are in subjunctive mood. Am I right or wrong?

Thank you very much.
N.

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by newbie

The cat is in the box.

There are two "the"s. There are also two nouns. There is not a whiff of the subjunctive mood.

[bhaisahab]

Originally Posted by newbie

Hi,
Please have a look at this sentence:

The cat is in the box
Supposing someone read this sentence and he/she say:

There are two ... in that sentence
=> what should be chosen to fill in the blank: "the"'s or"the's" or anything else?
And in my question I used "read" and "say" (without "s") as I think they are in subjunctive mood. Am I right or wrong?

Thank you very much.
N.

"Read" as in "I read that yesterday", is in the past tense, in which case you would have to use "he/she said." at the end.

"Reads" is in the future, as in, "If he reads that and he says." you must use "says".
"Supposing someone read this sentence and he/she said". or "Supposing someone reads this sentence and he/she says."

Two "the"s".

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by newbie

Suppose someone reads this sentence and he/she says:

Present tense.

[newbie]

Thanks a lot, Bhaisahab and RonBee :)

So we can just say "supposing someone reads that sentence and he/she says..."?
No need for the subjunctive mood? but why? I think this is just supposing. It's not the truth, isn't it? and so why don't we use subjunctive mood here? :O

[bhaisahab]

Originally Posted by RonBee

Present tense.

Sorry, forgot to point that bit out.

[RonBee]

Search Results for 'subjunctive' - UsingEnglish.com
English Grammar: Subjunctive (EnglishClub.com)
English Grammar: Subjunctive Quiz (EnglishClub.com)
Subjunctive Mood
§ 61. subjunctive. 1. Grammar. The American Heritage Book of English Usage. 1996
subjunctive - grammar - central - British Council - LearnEnglish

[newbie]

Sorry, forgot to point that bit out

Sorry but what do you mean, Bhaisahab?

Uhm... I still don't understand why we don't use subjunctive mood in that sentence. Just supposing, isn't it? :O:O
(sorry for my dumbness +_+)

[bhaisahab]

"Supposing someone reads this sentence and he/she says."

I forgot to point out that the above is present tense, as Ronbee made clear in his post.