One of the most fascinating things about language is that we can use it so well, so expertly, without understanding how we do it. The following two sentences are perfect examples. If the burglar was ...

The subjunctive mood, on the other hand, deals with actions or states only as possible, contingent, or conditional outcomes of a want, wish, preference, or uncertainty expressed by the speaker. The ...

One of my favorite things about the subjunctive is that people who know nothing about it — who’ve never even heard the term — use it with great skill all the time. “In 2010, the Institute of Geriatric ...