Today’s mailbag article, http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mwont.html , parenthetically states in the last paragraph:
I was of the impression that would was the subjunctive form of will, not the past tense. E.g., “I would have won the Nobel Prize in Physics, if the oil company conspiracy hadn’t suppressed my water-powered perpetual-motion engine with its 2,000 mile-per-gallon carburetor.”
“Love 'em, fear 'em, and leave 'em alone.” – Dr. Spockiavelli
I don’t think so b/c they are two independant clauses. a better example of subjunctive is…
" I think that I can answer this question."
" that " is a good indicator of the subjunctive form. “I think” is a noun +verb, but so is “I can”. I’m sure someone can explain it more eloquently.
We live in an age that reads to much to be wise, and thinks too much to be beautiful–Oscar Wilde
Depending on context, the “would” indicates either the subjunctive (“If possible, I would go to the deli every day”) or past tense (“When I lived downtown, I would go to the deli every day.”)
I’m sure there’s a fancier and more accurate term for the verb tense in which “would go” descibes a repeated event in the past.
My dictionary “Random House Unabridged” defines “would” as the past tense and past participle of “will.”
Definition 4 says it is used to describe repeated actions that happened in the past. I’m sure there is a fancy linguistic term for that, but it’s not important because there is no other way to express repeated past actions without using the word “would.”
At least I can’t think of one.
I’m not an expert in english grammar, but here’s what I remember.
will is called a “modal auxiliary verb.”
will + infinitive = future
e.g. I will finish my homework after Batman is over.
would + infinitive = present conditional
e.g. If Batman weren’t on TV, I would finish my homework.
would + have + past participle = past conditional
e.g. If Batman had not been on TV, I would have finished my homework.
A verb is in the subjunctive mood when it expresses a condition which is not factual. It is often in a sentence starting with if, or following a verb such as “wish”.
e.g.
If Batman were not on TV, I would do my homework.
“If Batman were”: the verb “were” is in the subjunective mood.
I wish that Batman were on television.
again, “were” is in the subjunctive mood.
The subjunctive form is the same as the indicative form except for the verb “to be”, and the third person singular present tense.
La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit.
H. de Livry
Heck, I’m not even a native speaker, but it’s not hard for me to see how ‘would’ can be the past tense of ‘will’. Example:
Present: He has made up his mind and he will leave.
Past: He had made up his mind and he would leave.
Latin to the rescue!
Latin has a clearly expressed imperfect and perfect past tenses. ‘Perfect’ used in the sense of a completed action.
So, the perfect tense would be our simple past tense. Spot ran.
The imperfect tense indicates a past action that was repeated. Spot was running. Spot kept running. Spot used to run.
Future indicative: I will splunge!
Future perfect indicative: I will have splunged!
Future subjunctive: If Ricky Martin were to kiss me, I would splunge!
Future perfect subjunctive: If Ricky Martin were to have kissed me, I would have splunged!
Perfect indicative: I splunged!
Imperfect indicative: I was splunging! (I used to splunge! I kept on splunging!)
Perfect subjunctive: When Ricky Martin kissed me, I would be splunged!
Imperfect subjunctive: If Ricky Martin were kissing me, I would be splunging! (…I would keep splunging.
Peace.