This question may have something to do with the history of English.
If it rains tomorrow, I will stay home.
In the if-clause here, "rains"(indicative) is used instead of the subjunctive mood present 'rain'.
I know to say "If it rain tomorrow" is archaic and not used in Modern English any longer and I myself do not say like that, even though it is grammatically correct. (At least, "archaic" means "it was correct in old English, right?)
I would like to know why, and/or how, the subjunctive mood was replaced with indicative.
I think I have read in some book before: 1, English speakers feel more comfortable to say "rainS" when the subject is "it". Saying "rain" with the subject "it" sounds awkward or against ears. 2, If one says "if it rain" , though knowing it is grammatically correct, he may feel uneasy thinking that he would be taken illiterate or uneducated by the listener who believes that, when the subject is "it", the predicate verb MUST be "rains" because he does not know anything about the subjunctive mood. So, to avoid that embarrassment, he dares to say "rains" though it should actually be "rain" in the indicative mood. Thus, this tendency has spread all over until it has become "standard".
In short, to say "rains" is grammatically wrong but has been accepted by most (or all) people. When the majority makes the same mistake, it will be correct.
Do you think my understanding is correct? Or is there any other historical background, influence of French grammar (in French to use indicative is grammatically correct in if-clause, I hear.) or any other reason?
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Wow! What a scholarly post!
Yes, you are 100% correct. The world's greatest grammarian * (IMHO) agrees with you.
1. He says that "in plain prose we now use the indicative, since we feel the reality, the actuality, of the problem stronger than the idea of doubt as to the proper solution."
a. He then cites this line from the famous British poet Tennyson: "She'll not tell me if she love me." The grammarian then says that in "plain prose" (the language used in everyday speech), we would use " loves."
*****
Finally, here is a sentence written in 1916 by an important American official. Today, his grammar would be considered "wrong":
"I am now going down to Garden City and New York till the President send for me; or, if he do not send for me, I'm going to his house and sit on his front steps till he come out."
*****
* George Oliver Curme, A Grammar of the English Language (1931), Vol. II, pp. 407, 415
>Clearly, I need a lesson in the difference between the subjunctive and the conditional. >If she has money, she'll buy something - I thought this was a conditional.
It is a conditional sentence (or, at least, that is one label often applied to such a sentence, and many would call it a 'first condition[al])'.
>If she had money, she would buy something - I would have said this, a situation counter to fact, is the subjunctive. She does not have money, but if she did... etc.
This is also a conditional sentence, and many would call it a 'second condition[al]'. The verb 'had' is said by some to be in the subjunctive mood. However, as the only verb in English that has recognisably different forms in the past indicative and the past subjunctive is BE (I was - indicative; I were - subjunctive) some of us question the value of calling this a subjunctive form
>If she had had money, she would have bought something - I would have said this was also the subjunctive, a past situation counter to fact.
This is also a conditional sentence, and many would call it a 'third condition[al]'. Once again, some would call 'had had' a subjunctive form; as it is identical to the indicative form, some of us do not see the point.
>The word 'conditional' is usually applied to the whole sentence, or to a clause. Conditional clauses/sentences usually contain the word 'if', though there are other possibilities.
The word 'subjunctive' is applied to the 'mood' of the verb. This is a concept that is very important in some languages, but less so in English, particularly British English.
In those languages that use the subjunctive, the subjunctive form is often very different from the indicative; for example, in German, the present indicative of 'sein' (=BE) is ich bin, and the present subjunctive is ich sei. In English, there is only one verb, BE, that has different forms for the past indicative and subjunctive - I/he was/were. For all other verbs, the two forms are identical, which perhaps explains why most native speakers don't think that they might be using a subjunctive form.
In the present subjunctive (rarely used in BrE) all verbs except BE have only one recognisably different form, the third person singular he she come/have/go/etc. For BE, the subjunctive form is be for all persons: if that be so, .
仮定法は時制の一致を受けないという文法書の間違った記述。とくに仮定法現在において自制の一致の法則が適用されることもあるでしょう。
I suggested that we (should) take the night train.
この文は時制の一致を受ける(主に英用法)
I suggested that we took the night train.