CentralNotice English subjunctive From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation , search This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2013) The English subjunctive —that is, the subjunctive mood in English grammar —is an irrealis mood used to form verbs in statements that do not describe known, objective facts . These include statements about one's state of mind, such as opinion, belief, purpose, intention, or desire. The subjunctive mood is also used for statements that are contrary to fact, such as, If I were a giraffe, ... (subjunctive), as distinguished from, I am a human being . Subjunctive statements often occur in dependent clauses , such as the subjunctive example in the preceding sentence. In cont...