There is in this fast age a fast-growing tendency, on the part of many so-called English grammarians, to set aside the uses of the subjunctive mood and to attempt to make the indicative perform the functions of both. In the first place, they are striving to do that which is impossible; in the second place, by their efforts to make the indicative do the work of both and by their lack of effort to see and understand and explain the "subtle distinctions involved in the use of the subjunctive mood," they have entangled the mind of the student of English grammar in a net-work of obscurity and have cast the dust of falsehood into his eyes and have thrown the whole subject of the uses of moods into a fog of ambiguity. Many say but little on the subject of moods, and it would have been a great deal better for the student if many of them had said nothing, unless they had approached nearer to the truth. Some in their definitions for the term 'mood,' imply, if they do not say positively, that mood is a certain manner of using verbs. No definition could be more misleading, and none at all would have been far better. "Most English grammars say that the subjunctive mood is used to express uncertainty or to state an action conditionally." This shows again that they are stepping in the dark and that it would be best for them to stand still until their eyes opened, for nothing can be farther from the truth. When an uncertainty or a conditionality has reference to actual fact, it not only may be but must be expressed by a statement in which the indicative mood is used; as, 'If the man is guilty, he ought to be hanged.' Here we have a sentence in which the speaker is dealing with a fact, a reality, and one about which he is uncertain and for that reason puts a condition in his statement. This gives us a sentence in which both uncertainty and conditionality are expressed, and at the same time one in which the indicative mood is employed; and, if space permitted, we could give numberless examples from good authors. "Of course everybody knows that the subjunctive mood is employed in some sorts of conditional statements;" but this certainly fails to prove that the subjunctive mood is necessary to the expression of a condition. In most conditional statements, there is generally some such conjunction as 'if,' 'lest,' 'unless,' 'though' or 'although' preceding the verb, or else the inverted position of parts of the sentence is such as to show the condition without conjunction. 'If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat.'—Prov. XV., 21; 'Cursed be my tribe, if I forgive him.'—Sh. Merch. Ven. I., 1; 'Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.'—Job XIII., 15; 'My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice.'-Prov. XXIII., 15; 'If this be treason, make the most of it.'—Patrick Henry; 'Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit.'—Colos. III., 18; and, 'If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.'—I Tim. III., 1;—these are a few examples in which conditions are expressed by conjunctions; and we find that condition is expressed by something else than verbs or the moods of verbs. Therefore, if the subjunctive mood is not necessary to express a condition, we are forced to the conclusion that its function is something far different from that of expressing mere conditionality, even when it is used in a conditional statement. And, when we find both a conditional conjunction and a subjunctive mood in the same statement, we are forced to believe that the subjunctive mood adds some new force. 'If he be taken, he shall never more be feared.'—Sh. King Lear II. I., 8; 'If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.'—I John IV, 20; 'Tell me ... if he appeal the duke on ancient malice.'—Rich. II. I., i, 9, are examples in which the subjunctive mood does not express condition, but something more important.

Others of these so-called grammarians speak of moods as being certain "verb-forms," and thus far they are correct; but they err when they say that, because in the course of time the distinctive marks have been worn away and the indicative and subjunctive forms have become alike in appearance, they are identical, and speak of them as "indicative-subjunctive forms." Though two verbs may be spelled alike and look and sound alike, yet that is no reason for saying that they are alike in grammatical function or in the same mood. 'Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.'—Luke XIII., 27; 'When ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet ...'—Mark VI., 11. Here we have two verbs alike in appearance; but who would say that they are alike in function? or who would dare call them "indicative-imperative forms"? It is no more unreasonable to talk of "indicative-imperative forms" than to talk of "indicative-subjunctive forms." "To talk of 'indicative-subjunctive forms' is like talking of a 'round-square hole.'" May the Goddess of Grammar look with compassion upon such mistakes, and, if the offenders ever repent, by her grace grant them full pardon, for the school-boy never can!

The subjunctive mood has a far more important and almost entirely different function from those commonly assigned to it. The word 'mood' comes from the Latin modus (manner) and, as used with reference to verbs, denotes certain variations of their form, by means of which the speaker can show the manner in which the action, being or state of being is connected in his own mind with the things spoken of. The subjunctive mood includes those forms of the verb which the speaker must use when he wishes to show that his statement or supposition is connected in his mind with a matter of mere conception and not a matter of real fact, independent of his own thought about it. The term 'subjunctive' comes from the Latin subjungere (to join on-to) and was applied to this mood because it is used more frequently in sub-joined clauses than in principal clauses; but its name does not limit it to dependent clauses, for we have many examples that will prove to the contrary; as 'This single crime, in my judgment, were sufficient to condemn him.'—Duncan's Cicero, p. 82; 'Be he who he will.'—Sh. R. (Koch); 'It were long to tell.'—Byron's Giaour; 'To love thee were to love myself.'—Paradise Lost, IX., 959; 'The rest were long to tell.—Ib. I., 507; Compare the force of the subjunctive in these with its force in the following examples: 'Whatever betide, be thou at least kind to my memory.'—Byron's Marino Faliero II., 1; 'He stood resigned to the decree, whatever it were.'—Ib. I., 2. Then, if we consider it worth our while to distinguish in our statements between those made in connection with real matter of fact and those made in connection with matter of mere conception, the subjunctive mood must remain in our language, for it is the only means by which we can show this important distinction. When ever we lay aside the subjunctive mood we lay aside one of the powers of our language.

C. W.