There’s a one-word key to finding the answer: subjunctive. That’s the term for the grammar dynamic that determines whether “was” or “were” is best here. Armed with that one little word, you can ...

I begin this lesson on a difficult grammatical concept called the “subjunctive mood” with a memory of one of the first pornographic films I ever saw. It was called “The Secret Lives of Romeo and ...

The subjunctive actually acts in several other baffling ways in addition to this deviant behavior, thus making its usage even more confusing to many people. To increase our confidence in using the ...

IN A recent supplement to The Economist, called “The World If”, we considered several hypothetical futures under such headlines as: “If Donald Trump was president” or “If the ocean was transparent”.

Olly Jezek from the Czech Republic writes: Please could you explain how to use the subjunctive? E.g.: ‘It’s important that the lesson be funny.’ When should we use ‘be’ and why? Maria Goranova from ...