Verb Tense, Mood and Voice.. (Part 2)

Subjunctive Mood
A verb expresses what the author believes about the action, or wants to do with the action, or the mood. Primarily, facts are expressed by an Indicative Mood, a command by an Imperative Mood. The Subjunctive Mood can be seen in two instances:

1. Unreal or unlikely conditions (usually follows if or a similar word)
2. Proposals, desires, and requests formed by certain verbs and the word that

The two uses correspond to the two kinds: Hypothetical Subjunctive and Command Subjunctive.

Hypothetical Subjunctive

The Hypothetical Subjunctive is used in some circumstances to indicate unlikely or unreal conditions. This form occurs after the words if, as if, or as though.

Example: To overcome my fear of germs, I will think about disease as though it WERE harmless.

By using the Subjunctive WERE and condition as though, the author has revealed that he or she does not think of disease as harmless.

The basic equivalent of the hypothetical subjunctive is the simple past tense of every verb, the difference being that the hypothetical subjunctive is used to convey unreal or unlikely situations. However, there is one exception to the equivalent of the Hypothetical Subjunctive: 

• However, for the verb to be WERE is ALWAYS used (The reason this is explained is that the simple past tense of be is Was/Were: I was, He/She/It was, We/They/You were).
• Remember the song, If I WERE a rich man... This helps to use WERE.