subjunctive | Grammaring

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Clauses that start with as if / as though describe an unreal or improbable situation if they are followed by an unreal tense (the past subjunctive or the past perfect subjunctive). Otherwise, they express that the statement is true.

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Past continuous subjunctive in the second conditional

The past continuous subjunctive can be used in the if-clause of a sentence in the second conditional to express an unreal action in the present which is imagined as continuous:

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Past perfect continuous subjunctive in the third conditional

The past perfect continuous subjunctive can be used in the if-clause of a sentence in the third conditional to express an unreal action in the past which is imagined as continuous:

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Past perfect subjunctive

The past perfect subjunctive has the same form as the past perfect tense:

had + past participle

It is used in subordinate clauses and expresses unreal past situations:

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Past subjunctive

The past subjunctive has the same form as the past simple tense except in the case of the verb be. Traditionally, the past subjunctive form of be is were for all persons, including the first and third person singular.

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Present subjunctive

The present subjunctive is identical to the bare infinitive form of the verb in all persons, including the third person singular (no final -s). It is usually used in formal or literary styles:

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Reporting verb + THAT-clause with the present subjunctive

verb + that-clause with present subjunctive

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Second conditional

if + past subjunctive | would + infinitive (simple or continuous)

The second conditional can describe an unreal situation with reference to the present. We imagine a hypothetical situation which contrasts with reality:

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The subjunctive

subjunctive

The subjunctive is a mood used to express necessity, unreality, wishes or hopes. It is usually difficult to notice, as it has no distinctive forms in current English, only those that resemble other verb forms (bare infinitive, past simple and past perfect).