Farewell, subjunctive mood. Nice to have known you. This year's obsequies are prompted by editorials in two respected journals. In February, The New York Times discussed the proposed merger of two ...

First there was President Clinton's defense during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, in which he raised the issue of the meaning of "is." Now we have the "hortatory subjunctive" defense. In trying to ...

READING a story on the fate of European newspapers, your columnist was drowning in bad news—newsrooms decimated, advertisers fleeing—but then a strange sentence appeared: Even Rupert Murdoch, who ...

Olly Jezek from the Czech Republic writes: Please could you explain how to use the subjunctive? E.g.: ‘It’s important that the lesson be funny.’ When should we use ‘be’ and why? Maria Goranova from ...

The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Nov., 1917), pp. 78-83 (6 pages) ...