The pluperfect subjunctive has effectively disappeared from spoken English, and is all but gone from the written language as well. I have taken on the task of convincing you that this is a loss worth noting.
"If I had known, I would never have come" has steadily been replaced by "If I would have known, I wouldn't have come," even among the well educated.
I will not decry this from the point of view of a grammarian, however much one might be tempted. Instead, mourn with me a loss to the English-speaking mind and spirit.
Though the subjunctive is often not noticeable as a distinct verb tense, as it is in many other languages, it has always been very much present in the spirit of English - until relatively recently.
The past subjunctive, if you don't know, often expresses a non-existent condition in the dependent clause ("If I had...), followed by the impact of this condition on the speaker's action, were it to come to pass, in the independent clause ("...then I would..."). In my opinion, it is one of the most elegant constructions in any of the many languages in which it is used, for it shows the speaker's possession of absolute clear-sightedness in the moment of speaking, contrasting poetically with his or her lack of it at some point in the all-too-recent past.
The contemporary bowdlerization of the pluperfect subjunctive removes the speaker from the exposed midpoint of the action; indeed, the declaration is no longer even the subjunctive. His chronological placement in the events referred to, both theoretical and real, has been hopelessly muddled; his degree of responsibility is no longer clear. The power of speech is now the lesser for it.
"If I had known, I would never have come" has steadily been replaced by "If I would have known, I wouldn't have come," even among the well educated.
I will not decry this from the point of view of a grammarian, however much one might be tempted. Instead, mourn with me a loss to the English-speaking mind and spirit.
Though the subjunctive is often not noticeable as a distinct verb tense, as it is in many other languages, it has always been very much present in the spirit of English - until relatively recently.
The past subjunctive, if you don't know, often expresses a non-existent condition in the dependent clause ("If I had...), followed by the impact of this condition on the speaker's action, were it to come to pass, in the independent clause ("...then I would..."). In my opinion, it is one of the most elegant constructions in any of the many languages in which it is used, for it shows the speaker's possession of absolute clear-sightedness in the moment of speaking, contrasting poetically with his or her lack of it at some point in the all-too-recent past.
The contemporary bowdlerization of the pluperfect subjunctive removes the speaker from the exposed midpoint of the action; indeed, the declaration is no longer even the subjunctive. His chronological placement in the events referred to, both theoretical and real, has been hopelessly muddled; his degree of responsibility is no longer clear. The power of speech is now the lesser for it.
