Abhijit K wrote:Several financial officers of the company spoke on condition that they not be named in
the press reports.
A. that they not be named
B. that their names will not be used
C. that their names are not used
D. of not having their names
E. of not naming them
One purpose of the subjunctive mood is to express an action that is HYPOTHETICAL: an action that might not actually happen.
When we demand an action, we cannot be certain that our demand will be met.
Because the demanded action might not actually happen, we use the COMMAND SUBJUNCTIVE.
The structure of the command subjunctive is as follows:
SUBJECT + BOSSY WORD +
that + NOUN + BARE INFINITIVE.
Examples of bossy words:
demand, dictate, mandate, etc.
The bare infinitive is the infinitive form of a verb with the
to omitted.
Example:
The attorneys demanded that the new contract be implemented.
In the sentence above:
Subject =
the attorneys.
Bossy word =
demanded.
that + NOUN =
that the new contract.
Bare infinitive =
be implemented (
to be implemented with the
to omitted).
In the SC above,
on condition serves to express a DEMAND and thus functions as a BOSSY WORD.
As a result, the command subjunctive is required:
Several financial officers of the company spoke on condition that they not be named in the press reports.
Here:
Subject =
several financial officers.
Bossy word =
on condition.
that + NOUN =
that they.
Bare infinitive =
be named (
to be named with the
to omitted).
Of the five answer choices, only
A correctly employs the command subjunctive.
The correct answer is
A.
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