grammar

Jul 29, 2006 18:01

Why must you say this sentence this way:

"It is important that he be there on time."

and not this way:

"It is important that he is there on time." ?

I can't explain it to my students, I just tell them something like, "You wanna speak correctly, don't you?!?"

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elirrina July 31 2006, 19:05:42 UTC
I'm sure that response will help their grammar. ;)

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grammar anonymous August 1 2006, 14:45:10 UTC
hey alan, i - from my humble, not native speaker point of view would have said, that the fact, that "he be there" still lies in the future. maybe you just abbreviate this by saying "he be there" instead of "he will be there"...

but - as i said - am just learning english as a foreign language, so what do i know? ;)

silvia

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Re: grammar boyd32 August 1 2006, 18:02:15 UTC
that's the best explanation I've heard so far! Actually I just need something to tell students so that they don't worry about it :)

Really I think it mighht be called "subjunctive case or something -but that's a WILD guess...

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