Mood,sunjunctive,purpose/result/clause/wish - Parts Of Speech-ESL/Learn English Grammar

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II. Subjunctive of Purpose


223. The subjunctive, especially _be_, _may_, _might_, and _should_, is used to express purpose, the clause being introduced by _that_ or _lest_; as,--

     It was necessary, he supposed, to drink strong beer, that he
     _might be_ strong to labor.--FRANKLIN.

     I have been the more particular...that you _may compare_ such
     unlikely beginnings with the figure I have since made
     there.--_Id._

     He [Roderick] with sudden impulse that way rode, To tell of what had passed, lest in the strife They _should engage_ with Julian's men.--SOUTHEY.



III. Subjunctive of Result


224. The subjunctive may represent the result toward which an action tends:--

     So many thoughts move to and fro,
     That vain it _were_ her eyes to close.
     --COLERIDGE.

     So live, that when thy summons comes to join
     The innumerable caravan...
     Thou _go_ not, like the quarry-slave at night.
     --BRYANT.



IV. In Temporal Clauses

225. The English subjunctive, like the Latin, is sometimes used in a
clause to express the time when an action is to take place.

     Let it rise, till it _meet_ the sun in his coming.--D. WEBSTER.

     Rise up, before it _be_ too late!--HAWTHORNE.

     But it will not be long
     Ere this _be thrown_ aside.
     --WORDSWORTH.



V. In Indirect Questions


226. The subjunctive is often found in indirect questions, the
answer being regarded as doubtful.

     Ask the great man if there _be_ none greater.--EMERSON

     What the best arrangement _were_, none of us could say.--CARLYLE.

     Whether it _were_ morning or whether it _were_ afternoon, in her confusion she had not distinctly known.--DE QUINCEY.



VI. Expressing a Wish


227. After a verb of wishing, the subjunctive is regularly used in
the dependent clause.

     The transmigiation of souls is no fable. I would it _were_!
     --EMERSON.

     Bright star! Would I _were_ steadfast as thou art!--KEATS.

     I've wished that little isle _had_ wings,
     And we, within its fairy bowers,
     _Were wafted_ off to seas unknown.
     --MOORE.


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