6. Though honey _be_ sweet, one can't make a meal of it.
7. If my friend _were_ here, he would enjoy this.
8. Though immortality _were_ improbable, we should still believe in it.
9. One may doubt whether the best men _be known_.
10. I wish the lad _were_ taller.
11. Oh! that I _were_ a Samson in strength.
12. It _were_ better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck.
+Explanation+.--In (1) the raining is assumed as a fact. In (2) the speaker
is uncertain of the fact. In the conditional clause of (3) and in the
concessive clause of (4) the raining is thought of as a mere contingency.
The speaker is certain of the truth of what is hypothetically expressed in
the conditional clause of (5) and in the concessive clause of (6), and is
certain of the untruth of what is hypothetically expressed in the
conditional clause of (7) and in the concessive clause of (8). There is an
indirect question in (9), a wish in (10) for something not at once
attainable and in (11) for something forever unattainable, and in (12) the
subjunctive mode is used in place of the potential.
+Remarks+.--When there is doubt as to whether the indicative or the
subjunctive mode is required, use the indicative.
The present subjunctive forms may be treated as infinitives used to
complete omitted auxiliaries; as, If it (_should_) _rain_, the work will be
delayed; Till one greater man (_shall_) _restore_ us, etc.
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