Question about subjunctive mood

by **JOSEPHGREER** Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:08 pm

Our study group was reviewing subjunctive mood and wanted to know if this sentence was grammatically correct:

We wish we thought more clearly.

Also, if we had used the past perfect tense of thought, would it still be subjunctive mood?

Example:

We wish we had thought more clearly.

by **RonPurewal** Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:00 am

Your first sentence is indeed correct - it's the 'past subjunctive', which is mostly identical to the normal past tense (with important exceptions, such as 'I wish I were...'). Strangely, the past subjunctive isn't used to express PAST wishes, but, rather, to express PRESENT wishes (as does your first example). The present subjunctive is used in different cases, like 'It is imperative that you be on time'.

If you use the past perfect, yes, it's still subjunctive.

For GMAT purposes at least, I think a better way to approach this issue is to treat it as idiomatic usage, and memorize individual cases accordingly. Trying to stick grammatical labels on everything can sometimes create more trouble than it fixes.