9. The subjunctive, conditions and wishes

Modern English keeps the subjunctive in a few frozen corners (if I were you, God save the King, it is essential that he be present). EModE used it as a living mood: after if, though, lest, until, ere, whether, except, in wishes and curses, and in commands to a third person. The biblical register uses it all the time, because the law books are built of conditions: «If a man smite…», «if he be found…», «lest he die».

9.1 Forms

The present subjunctive is the bare stem in every person: no -s, no -eth, no -est.

For most verbs only the 3rd and 2nd person singular show the difference, so a subjunctive with a plural or a 1st person subject is invisible. Be shows it everywhere. Abbott 1884, §§298–302 (Be, Beest, Were), §§361–371 («Subjunctive, simple form», «Subjunctive auxiliary forms», «The Subjunctive is replaced by the Indicative after…», «Subjunctive used optatively or imperatively», «Subjunctive in a subordinate sentence», «after verbs of command and entreaty»), and §363 notes that the indicative was already replacing it in Shakespeare.

9.2 Uses in JPS 1917

Pattern count: conjunction (if, though, lest, until, till, whether, except, unless) + a 2nd or 3rd person singular subject (he, she, it, thou, there, a man, any man, a soul, the + noun) + a bare verb from a list of 31 frequent verbs: 191 in JPS 1917 (2026-10-17). This undercounts (longer subjects, other verbs), but it shows the scale: the subjunctive is a routine form of the law books.

lest

lest («for fear that», «so that … not») takes the subjunctive or should: «lest ye die», «lest thou shouldest say» (jps:GEN:375, GEN 14.23). It is a negative subordinator: the clause states what must not happen. For the pragmatic layer this is a polarity marker; for the parser it is SCONJ mark.

The SLM tags lest as an adjective superlative with lemma l 63 times out of 66 (SLM now, 2026-10-17), because lest looks like l + -est; it is in 57 Torah sentences. The db has the right analysis (SCONJ, lemma lest) for the 65 tokens it holds, all repaired by the teacher.

9.3 Other conditional forms

The conditional an is the main parser trap in the tales: «An thou knowest» looks like the article an before a noun. Abbott §103: «Latterly the subjunctive, falling into disuse, was not considered sufficient to express a condition», and and if/an if took over. A rule: sentence-initial or clause-initial an/and immediately followed by a nominative pronoun (I, thou, he, she, we, ye, they) and a finite verb is SCONJ mark = if.

9.4 The third-person imperative (jussive) with let

«Let there be light» (jps:GEN:2, GEN 1.3), «Let us make man» (jps:GEN:27, GEN 1.26), «let them have dominion», «let not the Lord be angry» (jps:GEN:472, GEN 18.30). Counts: let us 37, let him 27, let them 31, let there be 5, let not 11. These are modern in form; the archaism is only in their frequency. UD: Let root (Mood=Imp), the subject of the lower clause obj of let (or nsubj of the lower verb: follow the db's practice), the lower verb xcomp or ccomp.

9.5 How UD marks it, and how the db does

UD English EWT 2.18 marks a present subjunctive as VB with Mood=Sub|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin («it is crucial that the forces on the offensive be united»), and subjunctive were as VBD with Mood=Sub|…|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin (en_ewt-ud-train.conllu: 6 and 6 tokens of be, plus 2 go, 2 come, 1 take, 1 use … with Mood=Sub). EWT is small on this point because modern English rarely needs it.

In the db (2026-10-17) the subjunctive is marked inconsistently:

Mood=Sub appears on 79 be AUX tokens, 18 die, 14 have VERB, 14 come, 12 have AUX … in the db: the teacher knows the category but does not apply it every time. VerbForm=Inf on a finite verb with its own subject is simply wrong, and it changes the clause type for any reader of the tree (an infinitive clause has no tense and no subject agreement).

Rule (chapter 13, S3): a verb tagged VB that has an nsubj (or expl there) and a mark among {if, though, although, lest, until, till, ere, whether, except, unless, that} — or is the root of an optative clause («God give thee», «cursed be») — gets Mood=Sub|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin with the subject's person and number. Negative control: «that he may go» (modal + infinitive: go stays VerbForm=Inf), «if ye will do this» (indicative will).

9.6 The tales and Shakespeare

The tales keep the subjunctive in formulaic speech: «if it please your majesty», «though he slay me», «God save you», «Heaven forbid». Shakespeare uses it freely after if, though, till, ere, lest, and in wishes («The devil damn thee black», Macbeth V.3), and often mixes it with the indicative in one sentence (Abbott §363). Optative subjunctives at the start of a sentence («Long live the king») look like imperatives; the subject before the verb tells them apart: an imperative has no subject (or thou/you after it), an optative has a third-person subject before the verb.

9.7 Effect on Mova's frames

A conditional sentence is a rule, not a fact: «If a man smite his servant … he shall be punished» states a law, not an event. The frame reader needs:

1. the mark of the clause (if, lest, until) to decide modality — condition, negative purpose, limit;
2. Mood=Sub to confirm that the clause is not asserted;
3. lest as a negative purpose (what must not happen), not as an adjective (SLM now) and not as a plain negator.

Today the first point works (the mark is right in the db), the second is unreliable (see 9.5), and the third depends on the teacher having repaired the SLM's l JJS.

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