Subjunctivitis

I try not to dwell on the subjunctive. It's grim terrain. Usually one rant a year or so is all I can muster, and I've covered my quota for this year.

But how can I ignore this recent spate of problems?

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The Yankees would have an easier time scoring if Cano was more like his usual self.

But Cano is not playing as he usually does; that's the problem. So this is a contrary-to-fact condition and should take the subjunctive. Make it, “if Cano were more like …” (As a mnemonic device, my colleague Ken Paul invokes Tevye, a poor man but a fine grammarian: “If I were a rich man …”)

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If there was no lockout, Kreider would have been playing in Los Angeles on Friday when the Kings raised their Stanley Cup banner.

Make it “if there were [or had been] no lockout.”

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Rodriguez did not directly answer when asked if he were unhappy with Girardi.

Here's the inevitable overcorrection problem. This constructi on does not require a subjunctive; we simply need the past tense to follow sequence-of-tense rules after “asked”: “asked if he was unhappy.”

 
If It Were Easy, We'd Get It Right

Even when we know there's a problem, we're not always sure how to fix it.

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An editorial originally said this:

But if he [Mr. Romney] succeeded in repealing the reform law, which has many provisions that hold down costs for Medicare enrollees, most beneficiaries would see their annual premiums and cost-sharing go up. The average beneficiary in traditional Medicare would pay about $5,000 more through 2022, and heavy users of prescription drugs about $18,000 more over the same period, if the act was repealed, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

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Then an editor, apparently realizing that “was repealed” seemed wrong in this hypothetical condition, tried again for a later version, with this:

The average beneficiar y in traditional Medicare would pay about $5,000 more through 2022, and heavy users of prescription drugs about $18,000 more over the same period, if the act is repealed, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The present indicative “is repealed” in the “if” clause (known as the “protasis” of the conditional sentence) would work best if the main clause (the “apodosis”) included a simple future tense: “The average beneficiary will pay … if the act is repealed.” But with the conditional “would pay,” it's better to use the subjunctive in the “if” clause: “if the act were repealed.”

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There was a clue in the preceding sentence:

But if he succeeded in repealing the reform law, which has many provisions that hold down costs for Medicare enrollees, most beneficiaries would see their annual premiums and cost-sharing go up.

Why the past tense “succeeded” to describe a possible future action? It's not actually a past tense; that, too, is a subjunctive, correctly used here.

 
Close but Not Quite

These aren't exactly homonyms, but we were tripped up in a couple of recent cases by similar-sounding words.

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On Sunday, more than 150 people gathered at Trinity Cemetery to celebrate the installation of a plaque commemorating Gen. Horatio Gates, who played a crucial role in the American Revolution but who, some say, was unfairly regulated to history's margins.

We meant “relegated.”

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Is it unethical? Yes (although the value of one grape is so minor that it impedes on the livelihood of no one).

“Impede” is a transitive verb, so “impede on” is not correct. Possibly one could say “impedes the livelihood,” but more likely we meant “impinges on.”

 
In a Word

This week's grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.

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It's n ot clear what causes such large swings, although Gallup's likely voter model may have something to do with it.

Even their registered voter numbers can be volatile, however. In early September of this year, after the Democratic conventions, they had Mr. Obama's lead among registered voters going from seven points to zero points over the course of a week - and then reverting to six points just as quickly. Most other polling firms showed a roughly steady race during this time period.

Gallup is not a “they.”

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And the goal is not just to reduce stress for employees, but for their families, too.

This construction is not parallel; make it, “to reduce stress not just for employees, but for their families, too.”

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Similarly, the comments of a Venezuelan doctor in Naples, Fla., about the state of Mr. Castro's health raised eyebrows because of the source: Dr. Jose Marquina, a sleep specialist who claimed in April that Hugo Chávez , Venezuela's cancer-stricken president, was in his “last days.” (Mr. Chávez is not only alive, but he just won a heated presidential race this month).

The parentheses enclose a complete sentence, so the period should go inside.

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The Third Way, a centrist Democratic organization, has calculated that limiting individuals to $17,000 dollars in deductions would only increase revenues by $1 trillion, less than a quarter of the $4.6 trillion cost of a 20 percent rate cut.

A surprisingly common error. Cut the word “dollars.”

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The club's 2011 season was sullied by reports of disciplinary problems and ended with the departure of the longtime manager Terry Francona. It sunk even lower this year, with the Red Sox compiling a 69-93 record over a season pocked with messy conflict.

Use “sank” for the simple past tense.

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How bad is it? They are left to channel the 2004 Red Sox for inspiration, Mike Vaccaro writes in The New York Post.

This use of “channel” has long since lost its freshness; let's resist it.

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It was proverbially quiet in the Chloé showroom, three days before Ms. Waight Keller's spring runway show here, as critical decisions were being made about the hair and makeup, the order the clothes would be shown, whether the colors and proportions were just right.

Which proverb is that?

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In Bernie Fine's case, the accusation alone cost him his job and his reputation. The chances of him ever coaching again at the college level are close to nil. The charges will cling to him for the rest of his life.

Make it “his ever coaching again.” In grammatical terms, “coaching” is a gerund - a verb form used as a noun - and is the object of the preposition “of.” In precise usage, “his” is required as a modifier for the gerund.

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In 1982, there were about 2,900 providers nationwide; as of 2008, there were le ss than 1,800.

For things you can count, make it “fewer.”

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From two different stories:

ALBANY - Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo may be coming to a swing state near you.

The no-limits giving that has let him do it might soon be coming to a campaign near you.

Two uses in one day suggest that this is acquiring cliché status.

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[Caption] Colleen Stephens with a baby monitor that was once white in color but yellowed after being exposed to toxic drywall from China that contaminated her previous home in Virginia Beach, Va. Ms. Stephens said she took a financial loss by selling her old home in a short sale.

Rather than - white in shape?