In this sentence:
The body will not be kept comfortable unless the air be maintained at a temperature higher than necessary.
Why did the author use "be maintained"?
When do we use subjunctive after "unless"?
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It's not a bare infinitive - it's a subjunctive. Which would increasingly be changed to is maintained by contemporary writers. – FumbleFingers Feb 3 '16 at 17:39
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1Possible duplicate of Grammar parsing for "if need be" – FumbleFingers Feb 3 '16 at 17:41
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But I did not find my answer yet in the link you mentioned. I changed the title to subjunctive as you said. thanks. – user115688 Feb 3 '16 at 17:50
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The top answer on the "original" question refers to a time when ‘if’ (and by implication 'unless') constructions more rigorously required the subjunctive mood in the following verb. There's nothing else involved here - you're just citing a somewhat dated subjunctive usage. If you need more help understanding this usage, note that ELU is for linguists, etymologists, and (serious) English language enthusiasts. Perhaps you should ask for clarification on English Language Learners. – FumbleFingers Feb 3 '16 at 18:35
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