3

Last night, I was asked by a non-native speaker if this sentence is correct:
"Would you mind if I sent you messages while you were away?"

I replied "no". This is what I would say:
"Do you mind if I send you messages while you are away?"

She got discouraged and told me that she was practicing making sentences in the past subjunctive mood. To which I said (1) there are much more fundamental points of grammar you need to study, (2) I'll try to get to the bottom of this "past subjunctive" issue.

As of now, this is how I would put the sentence in the normal subjunctive:
"Would you mind if I were to send you messages while you are away?"

But, I am not sure about this normal subjunctive. And, I've never even heard of past subjunctive.

Are all of these sentences correct:
(1) Would you mind if I sent you messages while you were away?
(2) Do you mind if I send you messages while you are away?
(3) Would you mind if I were to send you messages while you are away?

Improve this question
12
  • Are you asking about common usage or strict grammatical structure?
    – bib
    Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 2:08
  • 2
    What sounds natural is none of the above: "Would you mind if I sent you messages while you're away?"
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 3:12
  • 1
    @Peter Shor (1) would also be quite normal over here (apart from the 'you are').
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 16:52
  • 1
    @PeterShor I've read the thread several times. I disagree with the notion that "the speaker imagines that he or she has transported to a future imaginary point in time". I accept that I am wrong. But, I reject being told that, as a native speaker, I am sensing imagenary teleportation to a future point in time. I can memorize the mechanics of past subjunctive, but, for the record, I do not have the sensation of imaginary teleportation. And that is why past subjunctive is so difficult for me..
    – user312440
    Commented Jul 23, 2014 at 4:23
  • 2
    I wouldn't link to that ELL answer as an explanation…
    – user28567
    Commented Jul 23, 2014 at 5:12

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
-2

All four are, strictly speaking, correct, but why not use the first? It is the most straightforward. Do not, as one answer has it, write "send" with a "t".

Improve this answer
-3

Subjunctive is called for in both clauses since neither has occurred and both are hypothetical.

The last example is most correct since it uses subjunctive for both. However, common usage finds all four forms without really any ambiguity.

Improve this answer
4
  • 1
    Um, what are you calling subjunctive? I’ll give you I were but I don’t see any others. Plus his third sentence is at least a bit dubious.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 2:46
  • Why isn't would subjunctive?
    – bib
    Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 3:03
  • Would is (now) simply the (old) past tense of will. Yes, it was formerly also a past subjunctive, but it hasn’t been considered such since back when people would write things like Si voluisses, ʒif ðu walde equating it to a Romance past subjunctive in the protasis—but note that that’s from 825 ᴀᴅ. In the example sentences, it’s used as a modal verb in the conditional’s apodosis to match the regular past or the hypothetical were in its protasis. Also see english.stackexchange.com/a/178010 english.stackexchange.com/a/177117 english.stackexchange.com/a/180182.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 4:00
  • @tchrist funny that you mention past subjunctive... I was asked by a non-native speaker whether a certain sentence was correct. It sounded unnatural, so I re-worded. She then said that according to her textbook, the sentence was in past subjunctive. I knew enough to know to ask for help on stackexchange.
    – user312440
    Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 21:04

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .