In the Mood for Subjunctives

Red Pen: A Grammar Podcast

The pluckiest conjugation in the English language; the tense that won't go gentle into that good night. Reports of its death have been… somewhat exaggerated. (Though if it weren't for country lyrics, who knows where we'd be?)

Questions/comments/ideas/snark go in the comments. We love you.

Thing 1: Ryan Davis

Thing 2: Mike Laws

Producer: Amanda Darrach
Find all your favorite Red Pen songs over on the Red Pen Official Playlist.

To use Red Pen chapters, swipe up on the Now Playing screen or click the top-right-corner Chapters button on Apple Podcasts for macOS.

Chapitres

1. In the Mood for Subjunctives (00:00:00)

2. Nevertheless, the subjunctive persisted (00:01:07)

3. How to recognize the subjunctive (00:05:53)

4. Counterfactual subjunctives (00:14:20)

5. Demands, commands, suggestions, and statements of necessity (00:18:37)

6. The subjunctive of yesteryear (00:21:47)

7. Where the subjunctive belongs, and where it does not (00:26:39)

8. Where you need the subjunctive (00:37:55)

9. Where to skip the subjunctive (00:43:53)

10. The subjunctive songbook: Good, bad, and ugly (00:51:41)

11. Track changes: Might could, might would, might ought (00:58:58)