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"It is imperative that he writes a letter to his sister as soon as possible."

In this case, is the correct form write? If so, why?

tchrist
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Maximus S
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1 Answers1

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If it's necessary to use that construction, I would write

It is imperative that he write a letter ...

and then I would stray past the notice which reads "Here be dragons" and say that that use of write is not the infinitive mood of the verb but what may be conveniently called the subjunctive. Some decry calling it subjunctive because it's not exactly the same as the Latin subjunctive; but we're not discussing Latin.

Perhaps it's safest to say that write is uninflected.

Barrie England's answer to a previous question is rather good and explains the subjunctive.

Let’s take as an example the sentence We demand that he resign. It is used here as part of a mandative construction, that is, one that, in Huddleston and Pullum’s words ‘includes a component of meaning comparable to that expressed by the modal verb must’. Subjunctive resign is identical to the form of the verb used as the infinitive and as the present tense in all persons except the third person singular. However, in such sentences the indicative is also available and many native speakers, particularly native speakers of British English, will choose it and say, in all but the most formal contexts, We demand that he resigns. In truth, the subjunctive is rare in contemporary English, and may well disappear altogether over the next 50 to 100 years.

[I would probably say writes in that sentence, or resigns in Barrie's, because speech tends to be less careful. Or less pedantic.]

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Andrew Leach
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  • Thanks for your answer Andrew. So "write" is preferred in American colloquial English while "writes", in British English or a written text? – Maximus S Jul 02 '13 at 08:59
  • Holy subjunctive Batman - I would correct someone not using writes or resigns - this is stuff from the "tense drills" I had on a summer course at a known British college... – mplungjan Jul 02 '13 at 09:00
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    Ah. A summer course there (I saw your unedited version :-) Yes, I would rather use write and might say that, but because speech tends to be less careful I would probably end up with writes. I believe the uninflected form is more common in AmE. – Andrew Leach Jul 02 '13 at 09:13
  • There's another alternative: "it is imperative that he should write a letter". The advantage of this form is that if you use it, neither Brits nor Americans will try to correct your grammar. – Peter Shor Jul 02 '13 at 12:24
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    If you want to call an uninflected form in a that complement a "subjunctive", that's fine with me. As long as one doesn't imply that naming it a "subjunctive" is an explanation. It's name magic, that's all. – John Lawler Jul 02 '13 at 14:03
  • @PeterShor: As a native AmE speaker, "it is imperative that he should write a letter" sounds wrong to me, I think because of the association of "should" with "shall" (which no AmE speaker would use unless deliberately trying to speak in a hypercorrect, pseudo-British register, like William F. Buckley). I would prefer either "...that he write..." or a complete rewrite of the sentence to avoid the subjunctive (or whatever it is) entirely. – dodgethesteamroller Jul 02 '13 at 15:18
  • @dodge: then I guess there's no solution that is immune to having people correct your grammar. As an American, I also definitely prefer the subjunctive but "writes" sounds wrong to me, while "should write" sounds okay. – Peter Shor Jul 02 '13 at 15:21
  • @PeterShor: Interesting (that "should write" sounds good to you and we're both AmE speakers). Must be a regional thing. – dodgethesteamroller Jul 02 '13 at 15:29
  • As a British English speaker (with Latin and Greek qualifications), if I wanted to be very precise, I would use "write". However, in informal use, I would use "writes", as that level of precision can lead to being considered a stuck-up twit. – Phil M Jones Jul 02 '13 at 15:37