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No. But sometimes I just enjoy a good-natured mock.
But seriously -- growing up, my father was crazy about correcting our grammar. If I had a nickel for ever time he said "subjunctive case, statement contrary to fact", I'd [insert pseudo-clever ending to overused phrase here]. Posts: 1002 | Registered: Feb 2005
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*helpful* . . . have a large sockful of nickels that might be useful for beating people about the head with?
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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In answer to the thread's title, well, I'd start making some money of my talking cat, for pete's sake! (of course, I'd also have to take out stock in Claritin, since I'm desperately allergic to cats)...but, then, I'd retire on Fluffy's earnings and live the good life...perhaps in Tahiti...
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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In high school, my physics teacher had a cat named Fluffy. He would always give us word problems like "You shoot Fluffy out of a cannot with an initial velocity of 20 m/sec, at an angle of 30 degress. 100 meters away is a brick wall. How far will fluffy fall to the ground after hitting the brick wall?"
Posts: 1002 | Registered: Feb 2005
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Dude, we are totally going to have to try that!!! Where's my cat?
Has anyone else ever put bread and butter on a cat's back to see which was true, bread always lands butter side down, or a cat always lands on its feet?
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The results were disappointing. The cat landed on its feet, and promptly rolled over on its back.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Don't leave him dangling, now. Spending time together is part and participle of married life.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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no con junction, no matter how abbreviated, would be "not worth it"! They live for those moments.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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In years to come, that last pun of mine will be looked back on as the single best pun of the 21st century. In the eyes of The Future: Perfect.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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The wors thing about prison life is the food - low fiber diets are bad for the colon. That can put you in a comma, or make you have to dash off to the bathroom.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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My grammar is terrible. I know this and I appreciate it when people point out when I make a mistake.
I am confused, though. My Macmillan's says that were is used in if clauses that suppose something contrary to fact for formal English, but was is common in informal and general English, except in the expression As it were.
quote:Can you elaborate on how using were instead of was makes the meaning of what I said more clear.
Here's my understanding. The subjunctive mood is used whenever you are making a statment that is not true, such as "I wish I were an elephant". If it is present tense, you use the word "were", but if it's past tense, you use the word "was".
So, the meanings are different between "I wish I were an elephant [now]." and "I wish I was an elephant [yesterday]."
Posts: 1002 | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
There is an extraneous comma in this thread's title. It's not a compound sentence... it's a compound predicate, and as a result, it needs no comma before the "and."
Posts: 5663 | Registered: Jun 2000
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quote:Here's my understanding. The subjunctive mood is used whenever you are making a statment that is not true, such as "I wish I were an elephant". If it is present tense, you use the word "were", but if it's past tense, you use the word "was".
I don't think this is right. It should be "I wish I had been an elephant."
Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
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