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Should I use "is" or "be" in the following sentence?

What can be said for sure is that it is essential for the challenge that the claim is/be made officially.

If the above sentence has a subjunctive mood, then "be" is the right choice, but I am not sure if it does.

Sasan
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  • The question has been answered more generically in the question this has been marked a duplicate of; I might add that in the particular sentence you give here, a subjunctive is perfectly natural-sounding. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Aug 10 '17 at 14:18
  • @JanusBahsJacquet So is the sentence subjunctive? – Sasan Aug 10 '17 at 14:20
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    That depends on whether you want to use the subjunctive or not. Many people in the UK would not use the subjunctive here, since the subjunctive is generally on the wane in British English; most people in the US, on the other hand, would probably use the subjunctive here and would interpret the indicative to mean something else (“the fact that the claim is made officially is essential for the challenge”, rather than “you have to make the claim officially; that is essential to the challenge”). Neither is ungrammatical, and it’s your choice which one you want to use. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Aug 10 '17 at 14:50

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