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She insisted that we attend the party.
She insisted that we attended the party.

I know the following versions are correct (I'm only curious about the ones above):

She insisted that we should attend the party.
She insisted on us attending the party.
She insisted on our attending the party.

Peter Shor
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Ali E
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2 Answers2

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In A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, Quirk et al. have a footnote on p.157 about the verb insist:

The use of the subjunctive after insist depends on meaning. When the verb introduces an indirect statement, the indicative is used, but when it introduces an indirect directive, the subjunctive is more likely:

She insists that he is guilty of fraud.
We insist that he be admitted to hospital immediately.

Many speakers of AmE like to maintain this distinction between the indicative and the mandative subjunctive with insist:

"She insisted that he attended the party." (She was certain that she had seen him there.)

"She insisted that he attend the party." (She told him that he'd better come.)

DjinTonic
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Though the question has been covered before, perhaps the regional and registral variations could be better addressed. Paraphrases are shown using equals signs:

  • [A1] She insisted that we attend the party. [subjunctive mandative, = [A3] She insisted that we should attend the party, or possibly indicative with present simple for ongoing iterative situation: She insisted that we regularly attend the party. (the party a repeating event; use of distributive singular)]
  • [A2] She insisted that we attended the party. [covert mandative with past simple, = She insisted that we should attend the party, or indicative, = She insisted that we had attended the party.]

The above, see [CGEL {Huddleston & Pullum, 2002, 7.1.1], which adds the caveat

Clear cases of the covert construction are fairly rare, and indeed in 'AmE' [my scare quotes] are of somewhat marginal acceptability. In AmE the subjunctive is strongly favoured over the should construction, while 'BrE' shows the opposite preference.

So 'should we say' has no unique answer; the mandative sense would be seen as needing the subjunctive (A1) by the vast majority of Americans, while most Brits would prefer the simple past covert (A2) or the periphrastic should (A3) alternatives (with, I'd say, A2 the more usual, especially in conversation).

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For the sake of completeness, the other ways of expressing the mandation listed:

  • [B] She insisted that we should attend the party. [uses declarative content clause = that-clause] [common]
  • [C1] She insisted on us attending the party. [uses ing-clause; ACC-ing construction]
  • [C2] She insisted on our attending the party. [uses ing-clause; POSS-ing construction] [sounds rarefied in conversation, in the UK at least]
Edwin Ashworth
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