APRIL 27 / Say what you will about Merle . . .

. . . Haggard. Just don't say that he misuses . . .

. . . the subjunctive mood.

Examples:

Wish I were down / on some blue bayou . . .

Wishin' all these old things were new . . . .

Which is more than you can say for the Doors:

. . . if I was [read were] to say to you, "Girl, we couldn't get much higher."

Or the Beatles:

If I fell [read were to fall] in love with you . . . .

From Garner's Modern American Usage, page 756:

In modern English, the subjunctive mood of the verb appears primarily in six contexts: (1) conditions contrary to fact (if I were king) . . . ; (2) suppositions (if I were to go, I wouldn't be able to finish this project) . . . ; (3) wishes (I wish that I were able to play the piano) . . . ; (4) demands and commands (I insisted that he go) . . . ; (5) suggestions and proposals (I suggest that he think about it a little longer) . . . ; and (6) statements of necessity (it's necessary that they be there) . . . .  

But maybe the Doors and Beatles consulted H.W. Fowler, the alleged prescriptivist, who preached loudly (page 575 of the new edition of Modern English Usage) that

the subjunctive is, except in isolated uses, no longer alive, & one good reason for abstaining from it even where . . . it is grammatical, are provided by a collection, such as anyone can gather for himself from any newspaper, of subjunctives that are wrong.

Comments

[Marilynn]

In case anyone hasn't noticed (but of course, I notice all the time), when someone does use the subjunctive correctly, in writing or in speaking, he or she always comes across as noticeably better educated!! Just a little bias of mine!