Definitive Jest

Entry: subjunctive (n.)

In context: "...Joelle cuts off his interjection and says that but her trouble with it is that 'But For the Grace of God' is a subjunctive, a counterfactual, she says, and can make sense only when introducing a conditional cause..."

Definition: Grammar. Designating or relating to a verbal mood that refers to an action or state as conceived (rather than as a fact) and is therefore used chiefly to express a wish, command, exhortation, or a contingent, hypothetical, or prospective event. Also: (of a verb or form) belonging to this mood.

 2. Grammar. That is subjoined or dependent; (of a part of speech) that introduces a subordinate clause; (of a vowel letter): that supports or completes another vowel (cf. subjunctive vowel n. (a) at Special uses). Now rare.



Other: Though not always apparent here, I write fairly well, though much of my command of grammar is implicit, from absorption. I'd love a great book on grammar SNOOTiness.


Also, check out the first spelling:


a1504   J. Holt Lac Puerorum (1508) i. sig. C,   The subiunctyf mode. The present. quum amem whan I loue.

SNOOT score: 2
 
Page: 366

Source: Oxford English Dictionary