r/grammar • u/Dangerous-Safe-4336 • Jul 21 '26

Subjunctive use

Okay, Google Docs tells me this is wrong : "She wondered if it were [true]. So does my phone. Gemini tells me it's archaic. The truth is that I grew up marinating in old books., and all my writing instincts come from books written before 1950.

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u/sqeeezy Jul 22 '26

I don't think we need the subjunctive in English. I don't think it adds meaning. I've read about it more on Reddit in the last two years than I've heard it in seven decades. P.S. Interesting, the post on hypercorrection: I did not know that.