NOT A TEACHER
2. Please study this dialogue:
Teacher: Your son is doing very poorly in my class.
Mother: What can he do about the problem?
Teacher: Well, he seems to be very intelligent. I suggest that he study harder.
a. We use the so-called subjunctive because we are not talking about reality. The teacher is only making a suggestion.
b. Here are some more examples:
i. Your son doesn't pay attention in my class. I recommend that he sleep a little more each night.
ii. Mona eats too fast. (That's a fact.) I suggest that she eat more slowly. (That is not reality -- only my suggestion)
iii. The bus always comes late. I am going to write to the bus company and demand that it come on time each day.
HAVE A NICE DAY!
Thank you so much everyone, especially TheParser!
Well TheParser, thank you so much for making this easier to understand for me compared to reading from englishpage.com. There is so much here for me to digest and I need to read up all the links posted here too. I will definitely get back to you all regarding this, after I am done reading, because it's such a fascinating topic for me.
But one more thing TheParser. In your example, "Teacher: Well, he seems to be very intelligent. I suggest that he
study harder.", can I use the BrE in this sentence like "Teacher: Well, he seems to be very intelligent. I suggest that he
studies harder." and be correct as well?
And for your other examples:
i. Your son doesn't pay attention in my class. I recommend that he
sleep a little more each night.
ii. Mona eat
s too fast. (That's a fact.) I suggest that she
eat more slowly. (That is not reality -- only my suggestion)
iii. The bus always come
s late. I am going to write to the bus company and demand that it
come on time each day.
Can I also use the BrE or simple the present indicative as shown below and be correct as well:
i. Your son doesn't pay attention in my class. I recommend that he
sleeps a little more each night.
ii. Mona eat
s too fast. (That's a fact.) I suggest that she
eats more slowly. (That is not reality -- only my suggestion)
iii. The bus always come
s late. I am going to write to the bus company and demand that it
comes on time each day.
Please advise me. Thank you so much. By the way, are the present subjunctive form and present indicative form the same thing but used in a different way? To me, it seems like the present subjunctive form simply takes away the 's' in the verb whereas the present indicative remains true to the way I learned English in my school days. Can I use the present indicative instead of the subjunctive form in all the examples you provided in your earlier post? Any difference?
Thank you so much.