Sentence Correction

I'm working through the MGMT book to better understand SC. Currently, I am looking through Chapter 7 - Verb Tense, Mood, & Voice.

Question #15 on the practice problems

New regulations require that every cyclist in the Tour de France has to be tested for performance-enhancing substances.

The objective of this section is to correct the underlined portion of the sentence.

Since I recognized that "require" is a bossy word, I knew this sentence demanded subjunctive. So I rewrote the sentence to only include the verb test, because the subjunctive mood requires the bare form of the verb.

However, the answer is be tested. I understand be is a bare verb, but how can it include the past participle of the verb test. I thought only bare verbs were allowed.

Can someone please explain?

I must be missing a key part of the subjunctive mood.

Best,

Ian

itudor13 wrote:I'm working through the MGMT book to better understand SC. Currently, I am looking through Chapter 7 - Verb Tense, Mood, & Voice.

Question #15 on the practice problems

New regulations require that every cyclist in the Tour de France has to be tested for performance-enhancing substances.

The objective of this section is to correct the underlined portion of the sentence.

Since I recognized that "require" is a bossy word, I knew this sentence demanded subjunctive. So I rewrote the sentence to only include the verb test, because the subjunctive mood requires the bare form of the verb.

However, the answer is be tested. I understand be is a bare verb, but how can it include the past participle of the verb test. I thought only bare verbs were allowed.

Can someone please explain?

I must be missing a key part of the subjunctive mood.

Best,

Ian

Hi Ian!

Great job identifying that this sentence calls for the subjunctive mood. I like that term "bossy verb" - I'm going to steal that and pretend I made it up!

Here's the bare syntax for using the subjunctive:

[subject 1] [bossy/question verb] that [subject 2] [infinitive form of verb with "to" chopped off] [object of 2nd verb].

For example:

Bob's mother requires that Bob eat his vegetables.

Normally we would say "Bob eats"; however, the infinitive form is "to eat", so we chop off the "to".

In your example, we have a "to be" verb, since the verb isn't being done BY the subject, it's being done TO the subject. For example, you would say "the cyclists went to be tested". So, when forming the subjunctive, we chop off the "to" and are left with "be tested".

If the sentence had been:

New regulations require that the organizers of the Tour de France test every cyclist

then your analysis would be dead on, since here the subject (organizers) are doing the testing, so "to test" is the infinitive at play.

itudor13 wrote:However, the answer is be tested. I understand be is a bare verb, but how can it include the past participle of the verb test. I thought only bare verbs were allowed.

Many verbs have both an ACTIVE infinitive form and a PASSIVE infinitive form.
Active: to clean
Passive: to be cleaned

Active: to pass
Passive: to be passed

Active: to test
Passive: to be tested

The bare form of to be tested is BE TESTED (the passive infinitive form with the to omitted).

For more on the COMMAND SUBJUNCTIVE, check my post here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/the-gd-bill- ... 68191.html
For another use of the BARE INFINITIVE, check my post here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/hearing-aid- ... 70280.html

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