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Discussion Groups / English Usage / April 2010Is this sentence right?
So isn't there some transformation or conversion that need occur for B that doesn't need to occur for A? Is this sentence right? I'm not asking about the use of B and A. Why is the second verb right? Is it the same as, Would that he live.  SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I was born and then lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 7 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years The sentence needs a slight alteration. So isn't there some transformation or conversion that ***needs to*** occur for B that doesn't need to occur for A? The second verb "need" is correct. Negated verbs used this way (does not/doesn't + verb) have the infinitive form. Jack runs fast. Jack doesn't run fast. Bill needs help. Bill does not need help. > The sentence needs a slight alteration. > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Bill needs help. > Bill does not need help. Er, I think the first "need" is a form of the subjunctive. [Re "So isn't there some transformation or conversion that need occur for B that doesn't need to occur for A?"] [...] > Er, I think the first "need" is a form of the subjunctive. Why would it be? The core statement is "There is a conversion that [need|needs to] occur for B." Putting it in the interrogative with "Isn't there" doesn't remove it to the realm of things that exist only as conceptions of the mind (or whatever the usual definition of what calls for the subjunctive mood). If it were instead "It need not be so", that would be a state or condition existing as a conception rather than an actuality, but--to me--it doesn't look that way here. SignatureCordially, Eric Walker, Owlcroft House http://owlcroft.com/english/ On 29 Apr, 16:40, Cece <ceceliaarmstr...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Er, I think the first "need" is a form of the subjunctive. A nonstandard, erroneous form, surely? |
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