Subjunctive, Subject/Verb Agreement

[calvincolton]

A recent and popular self-help book wryly notes that if adolescence was not so painful, it would have a droll comedic aspect, at least in retrospect.

A) was not so painful, it
B) was not so painful, they
C) were not so painful, they
D) were not so painful, it
E) were not so painful, being one

I chose D as my answer, however the correct answer is A, which I do not understand. Wouldn't this require "adolescence" to be a plural noun for proper subject/verb agreement?

Adolescence is described by the Oxford English dictionary as: the period following the onset of puberty during which a young person develops from a child into an adult
Is "the period" not singular? Am I missing something here? Need help. Thanks.

[calvincolton]

Ahh. I have found the error in my thought process.

were can be defined as:
"second person singular past, plural past, and past subjunctive of," the key here being "second person singular past"

Well, I hope my posts help somebody.

[messi10]

Hi Calvin,

I think it is testing the hypothetical subjunctive mood.

As the name suggests, hypothetical subjunctive refers to hypothetical (unlikely or unreal) conditions.

In this sentence, the writer is using this when he says "if adolescence were not so painful....

i.e. adolescence is painful but in this case, he is saying that what if, hypothetically, it were not....

Hypothetical subjunctive is the simple past of every verb with the exception of the verb "to be". The form "were" is always used with hypothetical subjunctive.

Hope this helps

Regards

Sunil

[Willy]

A recent and popular self-help book wryly notes that if adolescence was not so painful, it would have a droll comedic aspect, at least in retrospect.

A) was not so painful, it
B) was not so painful, they
C) were not so painful, they
D) were not so painful, it
E) were not so painful, being one

I chose D as my answer, however the correct answer is A, which I do not understand. Wouldn't this require "adolescence" to be a plural noun for proper subject/verb agreement?

Adolescence is described by the Oxford English dictionary as: the period following the onset of puberty during which a young person develops from a child into an adult
Is "the period" not singular? Am I missing something here? Need help. Thanks.

I believe answer should be D not A. Please check out again.

Subjunctive form is used here so IF ..... WERE is correct.

[messi10]

Hi willigetmylifeback,

Thanks for pointing that out.

I think that is what calvin meant in his first post as he was questioning the singular nature of his answer. It was probably a typo when he said that the answer is A

Regards

Sunil

[atharshiraz]

Hypothetical subjunctive is the simple past of every verb with the exception of the verb "to be". The form "were" is always used with hypothetical subjunctive.

Sorry but perhaps you meant to say that "were" should ALWAYS be used with verb form "to be" (in the hypothetical subjunctive). Simple Past is used for all verbs that are not "to be" (in the hypothetical subjunctive mood).

?

I totally missed this distinction when reading the study guide AND solving the practice problems until I read this message.

Now I am trying to figure out an easy to understand resource that explains the verb form "to be". I don't know how the sentence above falls into the "to be" form? or does it?

"A recent and popular self-help book wryly notes that if adolescence was not so painful, it would have a droll comedic aspect, at least in retrospect."

Is the above of the verb form "to be" due to the verb "was"? are you saying that in the hypothetical subjunctive case if there is a "to be" verb ("was" in this case) in the IF clause then the verb ought to be "were" (always)?

(I came across this resource any better would be great ) http://www.englishplus.com/grammar/00000040.htm

[messi10]

Hi atharshiraz,

"were" is one of the forms of the verb "to be".

are you saying that in the hypothetical subjunctive case if there is a "to be" verb ("was" in this case) in the IF clause then the verb ought to be "were" (always)?

Correct!

I think you are having some difficulty with the verb "to be". The link you have sent lists the possible forms of the verb. Just google it and read up a bit more about "to be". Should make things more clear. If you are still stuck, please let me know

Regards

Sunil

[tim]

The answer appears to be D. Let us know if you have further questions, and as long as you can provide a valid source for the problem we can help you further..