Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010

Hello:

Re the "govern" subjunctive in
"If design govern in a thing so small."

I think, based on similar discussions here, that:

1. "Should design govern in a thing so small"
would be a subjunctive mood/conditional form more likely in BrE, while
the original is the norm in AmE.

2. "Should design govern in a thing so small"
is felt by some of you as being more remote in time, while the
original is closer to the present.

3. "Should design govern in a thing so small"
indicates more of a "chancey" happening than the original.

Am I right? Any other differences?
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Design

...

What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?--
If design govern in a thing so small.

Robert Frost, p. 302
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15718
---
Thanks.
Marius Hancu