Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[ClarissaMach]

Why the verbs "appoint" and "revisit" in the texto below can not be replaced by "appoints" and "revisits"? Since they both agree with the subject "it", should it not be so?


I recommend that the next administration work closely
with Congress and U.S. allies to mount a more integrated response to
the dangers posed by the spread of nuclear weapons, that it appoint a
Deputy National Security Advisor for Non-Proliferation to oversee
policy coordination and implementation, and that it revisit the Test
Ban Treaty in the context of the direct and indirect contributions it
can make to this policy.
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[Barnez1]

You are correct in noting that as the subjects in both cases are third person singulars, then the following verbs should normally take an -s ending to agree with the subject. If the verbs are modified to agree with this rule (appoints/revisits), then the sentence reads correctly; however it sounds less appropriate than the original.

I think the reason for this is that the suggestions listed are recommendations, and therefore should be preceded by the modal 'should', however the modal verb has been omitted as the verb to recommend at the head of the sentence is dominating, and the inclusion of additional modals to restate this advice is not necessary. Nevertheless, the sentence still behaves as if the two shoulds are still in place:

....that it (should) appoint a Deputy National Security Advisor....

........ and that it (should) revisit the Test Ban Treaty ......


Hope this is helpful.


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[CP]

In Spanish and French, and I presume in Portuguese, some verbs in the main clause require the subjunctive case in the subordinate clause.

Je doute qu'il soit different en portuguais.

We do the same in English, but less so. And because we have so little inflection of verbs compared to the Romance languages, it's hard to tell the difference between subjunctive and indicative moods, except in the third person singular.

Here, we have, "I recommend . . . that it appoint a Deputy National Security Advisor . . . and that it revisit the Test Ban Treaty . . . ."

"Recommend" in the main clause requires the subjunctive in the subordinate clauses, and the subjunctive in English leaves off the final "s" in the third person singular. It would, indeed, sound funny to say "appoints" or "revisits" in this context.
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[SimpleEnglishBlogger]

Barnez1, I think you're overthinking this one. I have to respectfully disagree with your assessment that "if the verbs were modified to agree with this rule, then the sentence reads correctly".

I hate "grammar" lingo and "rules" so I won't talk about it in those terms. Rather, I believe a learner should learn by patterns rather than trying to construct by rules.

Anyway, if we take the verb and change it, it becomes obvious that adding an 's' doesn't work.

Incidentally, the OP forgot to include the word "work" (closely)...

So let's simplify the sentence a bit but keeping the same pattern, using "he" instead of administration or "it", and "go" instead of those other verbs.

"I recommend that he go shopping."

Sounds alright, doesn't it?

But if we go ahead and change "go" to "goes" then it all of a sudden sounds wrong.

"I recommend that he goes shopping." I have never heard this iteration in my life.

With words like "suggest" or "recommend", the verb is always the dictionary form, IMO.
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