[Grammar] The Subjunctive in English

[5jj]

Or maybe we're just more used to the songs from Fiddler on the Roof. Well, one song in particular, anyway.

If only I were a rich man!:roll:

 

[konungursvia]

To me, the use of the past does both these things (distancing, rendering hypothetical), e.g. "If I had a million dollars I'd be rich."

So I thought it was worth saying again that just satisfying those two functional requirements doesn't necessarily mean we have a subjunctive on our hands. With 'to be' we have a subjunctive and an indicative condition:

If I were (subjunctive, according to consensus)
If I was (not subjunctive at all, and comparable to 'If I had'.)

Just saying.

As you mentioned in your first sentence, all such labels are artificial shortcuts. They are tools.
But, if you understand "subjunctive" as meaning (in part) using the so-called 'past' tense in #1 distancing the 'having' in time, and using the past tense for hypothetical events, then you can refer to it as "subjunctive" without having to define everything (the distancing role, the hypothetical nature of the proposition, etc).
If a student is introduced to the meaning of "subjunctive" as it is used in other languages, and arguably in English, I imagine it would be much easier to respond to questions by saying "It's subjunctive" rather than by explaining all the properties of subjunctivity each time and attributing those properties to the example.

I can certainly accept that the labelling of constructions as "subjunctive" is almost dead in British pedagogy. But I'm not convinced that the use of the past subjunctive (under a different label) has changed much.

 

[birdeen's call]

5jj is obviously better informed than I am on BrE in general and the British use of the subjunctive in particular, so my opinion here is very humble.

I feel that "virtually dead" is too strong an epithet. I read and hear the present subjunctive used in British English from time to time, not in fixed expressions but productively. It is true that I encounter it far more often in American English but my limited experience with British English tells me that the mood is still part of some British speakers and writers' repertoire.