[Grammar] Grammar with "lest"

[salvador.dal1950]

Could someone explain to me how to use "lest"? I know what it means, but I cannot seem to fathom how to use it.

Sometimes I found the bare infinitive: He spent whole days in his room, headphones on lest he disturb anyone.

Sometimes I found the verb conjugated: They were afraid to complain about the noise lest they annoyed the neighbours.

Both sentences are talking about the past and describe the possibility of something happening so, I think that grammatically they are identical.

I gather it has something to do with the subjunctive mood (whatever that is).

Thank you folks!

 

[jawgar]

It can mean "because it may lead to {something negative}" or "for fear of"

I wore sunglasses lest she see me weeping.

Subjunctive mood is used after "lest". See http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lest. In subjunctive mood the subject-verb agreement rule changes to infinitive.


We were worried lest we be seen to be hostile.

 

[salvador.dal1950]

It can mean "because it may lead to {something negative}" or "for fear of"

I wore sunglasses lest she see me weeping.

Subjunctive mood is used after "lest". See http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lest. In subjunctive mood the subject-verb agreement rule changes to infinitive.


We were worried lest we be seen to be hostile.

But then, why the second example from my post doesn't have the infinitive? I took it from a Cambridge dictionary, so I assume is correct.

 

[jawgar]

Not 100% sure. Subjunctive form takes careful study (and life is short ;-)).

 

[Matthew Wai]

'Helen turned the radio down lest she should miss the phone ringing.'── quoted from http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/lest
May I think that the subjective mood is optional after 'lest'?

Not a teacher.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Sometimes I found the bare infinitive: He spent whole days in his room, headphones on lest he disturb anyone.

Sometimes I found the verb conjugated: They were afraid to complain about the noise lest they annoyed the neighbours.

Some people don't use the subjunctive. Sometimes it is by choice; other times it is an error.

I would use "annoy" in the second sentence, not "annoyed".

 

[MikeNewYork]

Matthew, the "should" form is often used in BrE to avoid the subjunctive. It is correct.

 

[salvador.dal1950]

It seems to my that the use of the subjunctive is rather tricky. How do I know when to use it?

For instance, I took this sentence from Wikipedia and I never thought I had to use the subjunctive: It is important that he stay by your side.

 

[MikeNewYork]

There are certain words that trigger what is called the "mandative subjunctive". Such words include "demand", "request", "important", "suggest", "order", etc. If you Google "mandative subjunctive", you will see more.