Grammarina

In this post, I'll provide use cases for the subjunctive mood. To recap the previous post : the subjunctive mood is used to talk about hypothetical situations. So let's dive into the use cases now: You use the subjunctive mood to: 1. Explore hypothetical situations If I were to start my own business, it would be a cupcake boutique. 2. Indicate a demand She demanded that he meet her right away... 3. Talk about things/situations that aren't facts If I were a US citizen, I'd have voted for Sanders. 4. To express a wish I wish I were there with you. 5. To suggest... umm... things I suggest that you wait until tomorrow before booking the tickets. 6. To put forth a necessity It is essential that you let them know... I'm an intuitive learner, and so I've provided examples instead of going into technicalities. I hope this helps!

A subjunctive is a verb form. It  can be used in the following cases: To talk about imaginary, as against actual situations If only I were as happy as that dog If only people were as happy as they seem To indicate when something is required to be done He recommended that I be there at the office half an hour early It is important that he face the trouble head on It is distinguishable from the other verb forms using the following indicators: The use of  be  and  were  as against  am ,  is ,  are ,  was (ref. examples) The lack of an s at the end of the verb when talking about a person in singular form, in present tense, and in the third person speech (ref. second example of the second case) Simply put, you're using the subjunctive verb form if you use "I were" as against "I was". Got your head around that? Great! Because this gets more complex.  See you in the next post!

These two words are often mixed up in usage. Especially by us Indians. But there are distinct contexts where each is used/not used. How do you decide which to use when? It's simple: use fewer  when you're talking about things you can count, and less  when you're talking about things you cannot count. Let's get to the details...  You use "fewer" when you are talking about people or things in the plural form. E.g. Dogs, schools, cars. Examples Fewer students are opting to study this course. Fewer than 100 dogs die each year of cancer. You use "less" when you're talking about something that can't be counted. E.g. Water, music, homework. Examples When I'm at work, I listen to less music. The pond has less water. Exceptions As is the case with most English grammar rules, there are exceptions to this one. For the following, you need to use "less" instead of "fewer", even though you can quanti