General Writing

The subjunctive mood is used when we want to express a wish, request, recommendation or report of a command. Also, the subjunctive mood is used to express something that is contrary to the fact, highly unlikely or doubtful. Usually, students find it difficult to make good use of the subjunctive mood in their writing because its structure seems a little too complicated. However, we should make efforts to learn how to use the subjunctive mood since it is useful in expressing our mood.

1. Fill in the blanks with proper forms of the verbs in the brackets.

1 If I were you, I (apply) for that scholarship.
2 If he had arrived on time, we (have) dinner before the talk show.
3 It is essential that we (be) informed of your plans in advance.
4 If these books (be) available anywhere, I would pay any price for them.
5 She's already acting as if she (be going to) be promoted.
6 If I should do the experiment, I (do) it some other way.
7 If he (be) 10 years younger, he would consider entering the marathon.
8 Had Mr. Wang studied harder last fall, he (do not have to) take so many courses this spring.
9 The English teacher demanded that we (use) English-English dictionaries instead of English-Chinese dictionaries.
10 If only his father (know) that the disease was not so terrible.1. Fill in the blanks with the proper forms of the verbs provided.

2. Correct the mistakes in the verb forms in the following sentences.

1 It is essential that Xiao Zhang works very hard for the final examination.
2 If he were a good friend, he will tell me the truth about that incident.
3 The tourist guide suggested that every one has a map of the district.
4 It is high time we do something to help students develop their individual working ability.
5 The members of the club recommended that the rules are changed.
6 But for the heavy snow, they could arrive at the mountain village earlier.
7 If she had not bet that much money on that horse, she and her husband can live a comfortable life.
8 Had his uncle been in your position, he would probably do the same.
9 If I were to accept their offer, I will start the new job on June 8.
10 I'm really busy these days, otherwise I will certainly go shopping with you.

3. Read the following passage and correct the mistakes in using the subjunctive mood.

1 I was always one of the best students in class , but still I had to spend a lot of time reading English texts. 2 I made many mistakes when writing, my pronunciation was bad, and I could only speak a little English. 3 But for the computer games, I would studied the same way. 4 When I got my first PC, I started playing lots of computer games. 5 I wished I could have played them well, but I had to read a lot of English sentences in the games first. 6 After some time, I could read faster and gained some "sense of grammar" 7 When I did well in a local English contest, I would often "feel" the right answers in grammar tests, while other students had to remember dozens of grammar rules. 8 My first two years in high school were very important for my English. 9 My English teacher suggested that I learn English phonetics and using English-English dictionaries. 10 I listened to recordings and English-language TV, and talked to native speakers every chance I got. 11 The result was that I was no longer afraid to speak English, and I could understand spoken English quite well, too. 12 During the summer vacation I started reading books in English, mostly novels. 13 There were a lot of new words in these books, and I had to look up the same word many times. 14 If I had been lazy, I could rest. 15 But I didn't stop. 16 By and by, I found the new words were not new for me, because I met with them too many times. 17 When I got on the Internet, I started to write more and more e-mails in English. 18 Today, I think I use English more than my first language. 19 If I had chance to go to English-speaking country, I won't have any problem in communicating with people.