[Grammar] Victims of fraud asked him sentenced to death

[Sylwiaaaa]

Please help me correct this sentence.

"Victims of fraud asked him sentenced to death" I'm sure that this sentence is wrong but I can't fix it. Please help me

 

[emsr2d2]

Please help me correct this sentence.

"Victims of his fraud asked for him to be sentenced to death."

I'm sure that this sentence is wrong but I can't fix it. Please help me.

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

I have made one suggestion above. It could also say "Victims of his fraud asked that he be sentenced to death" or "The fraudster's victims asked for him to be/asked that he be sentenced to death".

I sincerely hope that this wasn't your homework. The forum rules state clearly that we will not help with homework or assignments. I have given you the benefit of the doubt this time.

Note my other corrections above, and that I have made your thread title unique and relevant to the thread.

 

[SoothingDave]

Or "asked that he be"

 

[GoesStation]

Or "asked that he be"

Americans like Dave and me invariably use the subjunctive here. Brits often use the indicative; I wouldn't be surprised to see a British person write Victims of his fraud asked that he was sentenced to death. This looks really weird to my American eyes.

 

[Tdol]

We're not that weird. ;-)

 

[GoesStation]

We're not that weird. ;-)

I really should stop guessing when Brits will or won't use the subjunctive. I frequently hear the indicative from British lips where it would be very unlikely from an American, but I evidently have yet to spot the rule they're applying. :-(

 

[jutfrank]

I really should stop guessing when Brits will or won't use the subjunctive. I frequently hear the indicative from British lips where it would be very unlikely from an American, but I evidently have yet to spot the rule they're applying. :-(

I think the subjunctive is more common in British English than some claim.

 

[GoesStation]

I think the subjunctive is more common in British English than some claim.

I keep hearing indicatives on the BBC and seeing them in The Economist in places where any American would only use the subjunctive. I'll try to keep a log of this for a bit and post it in a new thread.

 

[emsr2d2]

... but I evidently have yet to spot the rule they're applying. :-(

I don't think you'll find a rule. For example, I would say the split between "I wish I was richer" and "I wish I were richer" is probably around 50/50 from BrE speakers. I don't mean we use one 50% of the time and the other 50% of the time! I mean about half the population use "was" and half use "were".

Of those, a minority of the "were" users would be able to tell you it's the subjunctive and the rest would simply tell you they know that it's right. Most of the people who use "was" would simply not be able to explain it and/or wouldn't have the faintest idea what the subjunctive even is.

A lot of it still comes back to the fact that the majority of British schoolchildren were/are not taught grammar at school.

 

[GoesStation]

I'd say American English speakers have a similar split with respect to I wish I was/were richer. Where Americans almost invariably use the subjunctive and I tend to see Brits use the indicative is in phrases expressing intent set in the past: the President insisted the policy be/was carried out. I'm not sure that's a good example, though. For what it's worth, the first similar sentence I've found in my perusal of a British publication uses the subjunctive: She has also helped a woman whose mother was beaten by her father after she insisted he wear a mask outdoors…. (The Economist, "Women and covid-19", 7 March 2020)

 

[emsr2d2]

I agree that it's not a good example (sorry!)

"The president insisted the policy was carried out" suggests that someone said the policy wasn't carried out and the president was insisting that, in fact, it was (ie it had been).
"The president insisted the policy be carried out" makes it clear that, at the time of the president's insisting, the policy had yet to be carried out.

 

[Tdol]

I really should stop guessing when Brits will or won't use the subjunctive. I frequently hear the indicative from British lips where it would be very unlikely from an American, but I evidently have yet to spot the rule they're applying. :-(

Apart from fossil phrases, I never use the present subjunctive.