--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Damn the subjunctive. It brings all our…" description: "\"Damn the subjunctive. It brings all our writers to shame.\" — Mark Twain" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/mark-twain-22_grammar_damn-the-subjunctive-it-brings-all-our-w_342333.png" --- # Damn the subjunctive. It brings all our writers to shame. ![“Damn the subjunctive. It brings all our writers to shame.” quote by Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/mark-twain-22_grammar_damn-the-subjunctive-it-brings-all-our-w_342333.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/mark-twain-22_grammar_damn-the-subjunctive-it-brings-all-our-w_342333.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/mark-twain-22_grammar_damn-the-subjunctive-it-brings-all-our-w_342333.png) > “Damn the subjunctive. It brings all our writers to shame.” [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The writer laments the complexity of the subjunctive mood, seeing it as a source of embarrassment for writers. **In simple terms:** Subjunctive is tricky for writers. Key Takeaway Practice subjunctive usage. Themes language grammar writing challenges Mood thoughtful critical Type educational inspirational When to use this quote - writing workshops - editing sessions - language teaching - self‑study Key Concepts subjunctive mood linguistic precision Questions to Reflect On - How does grammar affect your voice? - When is flexibility more important than correctness? A Different Perspective Strict grammar rules can stifle creative expression. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Grammar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grammar/) [Shame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shame/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [I think one of the things the writers' festival does that is very good is that it brings writers from around the world and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-earls/i-think-one-of-the-things-the-writers-festival-does-that-is-very-good/) [Nick Earls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-earls/) > [Remember, constantly, that when you talk about 'tense of a subjunctive,' you're not talking about time. You're slipping through degrees of reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/remember-constantly-that-when-you-talk-about-tense-of-a-subjunctive/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A story begins and it always passes from the subjunctive to the declarative. And Italians don't seem to care about making a fine distinction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-leon/a-story-begins-and-it-always-passes-from-the-subjunctive-to-the/) [Donna Leon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-leon/) > [Why?" she screamed. "Are you crazy? You know the English subjunctive, you understand trigonometry, you can read Marx, and you don't know the answer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/why-she-screamed-are-you-crazy-you-know-the-english-subjunctive-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The verb aconsejar que in the present and in the conditional, followed by the subjunctive, is a direct way of giving advice: Por qué…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rogelio-vallecillos/the-verb-aconsejar-que-in-the-present-and-in-the-conditional-followed/) Rogelio Vallecillos > [“No hotels in the past participle, no subjunctive modes, no conjunctivitis.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/no-hotels-in-the-past-participle-no-subjunctive-modes-no/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [“I've always had trouble with the subjunctive. I wish that were not the case.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-elmore/i-ve-always-had-trouble-with-the-subjunctive-i-wish-that-were-not-the/) [Phil Elmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-elmore/) > [It's subjunctive history. You know, the subjunctive? The mood used when something may or may not have happened. When it is imagined.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-bennett/it-s-subjunctive-history-you-know-the-subjunctive-the-mood-used-when/) [Alan Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-bennett/) > [“Past subjunctive forms are used when reporting: May/might as well can be translated using the verb poder. When the speaker expresses advice in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rogelio-vallecillos/past-subjunctive-forms-are-used-when-reporting-may-might-as-well-can/) Rogelio Vallecillos > [“Joelle cuts off his interjection and says that but that her trouble with it is that ‘But For the Grace of God’ is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/joelle-cuts-off-his-interjection-and-says-that-but-that-her-trouble/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“A woman gets into a taxi in Boston's Logan airport and asks the driver, 'Can you take me somplace where I can get scrod?'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/a-woman-gets-into-a-taxi-in-boston-s-logan-airport-and-asks-the/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [“the indicative provides us with facts (what someone does, is doing, did, will do, would do, has done…), and it is through the subjunctive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-kirk/the-indicative-provides-us-with-facts-what-someone-does-is-doing-did/) Rachel Kirk > [Gosh. The subjunctive is always the first to go.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mitchell/gosh-the-subjunctive-is-always-the-first-to-go/) [David Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mitchell/) > [“Granted, we never gave you a choice, but wouldn’t you have agreed to transfer those dreams to us, knowing now what you could not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-russell/granted-we-never-gave-you-a-choice-but-wouldn-t-you-have-agreed-to/) [Karen Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-russell/) > [Which is him?" The grammar was faulty, maybe, but we could not know, then, that it would go in a book someday.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/which-is-him-the-grammar-was-faulty-maybe-but-we-could-not-know-then/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## More by Mark Twain > [Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/sing-like-no-one-s-listening-love-like-you-ve-never-been-hurt-dance/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [If you had made the acquiring of ignorance the study of your life, you could not have graduated with higher honor than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-you-had-made-the-acquiring-of-ignorance-the-study-of-your-life-you/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-creator-sat-upon-the-throne-thinking-behind-him-stretched-the/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-s-easy-to-quit-smoking-i-ve-done-it-hundreds-of-times/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“It is never wrong to do the right thing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-is-never-wrong-to-do-the-right-thing/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [A man accustomed to American food and American domestic cookery would not starve to death suddenly in Europe, but I think he would gradually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/a-man-accustomed-to-american-food-and-american-domestic-cookery-would/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [There is nothing training can't cannot do. Nothing is above its reach.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/there-is-nothing-training-can-t-cannot-do-nothing-is-above-its-reach/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [I never write Metropolis for seven cents because I can get the same price for city. I never write policeman because I can get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-never-write-metropolis-for-seven-cents-because-i-can-get-the-same/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [The higher animals get their teeth without pain or inconvenience. Man gets his through months and months of cruel torture; he will never get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-higher-animals-get-their-teeth-without-pain-or-inconvenience-man/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“As far as I can see, Italy, for fifteen hundred years, has turned all her energies, all her finances, and all her industry to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/as-far-as-i-can-see-italy-for-fifteen-hundred-years-has-turned-all/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Begin with the determination to succeed and the work is half done already.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/begin-with-the-determination-to-succeed-and-the-work-is-half-done/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Many public-school children seem to know only two dates—1492 and 4th of July; and as a rule they don't know what happened on either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/many-public-school-children-seem-to-know-only-two-dates-1492-and-4th/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [If we could imagine such a man, that is a man who could invent the fly and send him out on his mission and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-we-could-imagine-such-a-man-that-is-a-man-who-could-invent-the-fly/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/you-perceive-now-that-these-things-are-all-impossible-except-in-a/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Lord save us all from a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/lord-save-us-all-from-a-hope-tree-that-has-lost-the-faculty-of/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) [Explore all 3,277 Mark Twain quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## More Grammar quotes > [Ill-fitting grammar are like ill-fitting shoes. You can get used to it for a bit, but then one day your toes fall off and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-fforde/ill-fitting-grammar-are-like-ill-fitting-shoes-you-can-get-used-to-it/) [Jasper Fforde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-fforde/) > [Ever since grammar school, I knew I wanted to be famous - I always wanted to be a singer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-hudson/ever-since-grammar-school-i-knew-i-wanted-to-be-famous-i-always/) [Jennifer Hudson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-hudson/) > [We have even done a weekend on Japanese grammar! Not that I know anything about Japanese grammar, but it was Kaz's idea, and it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-halifax/we-have-even-done-a-weekend-on-japanese-grammar-not-that-i-know/) [Joan Halifax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-halifax/) > [The night is falling down around us. Meteors rain like fireworks, quick rips in the seam of the dark... Every second, another streak of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/the-night-is-falling-down-around-us-meteors-rain-like-fireworks-quick/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [A pronoun, too, will aptly reflect the number of its antecedent: "they" does not refer to one person, no matter how many personalities she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-elizabeth-gordon/a-pronoun-too-will-aptly-reflect-the-number-of-its-antecedent-they/) [Karen Elizabeth Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-elizabeth-gordon/) > [Spell check bails me out on the constant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-yvars/spell-check-bails-me-out-on-the-constant/) Daniel Yvars > [Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/writing-is-an-act-of-faith-not-a-trick-of-grammar/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [People from my sort of background needed grammar schools to compete with children from privileged homes like Shirley Williams and Anthony Wedgwood Benn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-thatcher/people-from-my-sort-of-background-needed-grammar-schools-to-compete/) [Margaret Thatcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-thatcher/) > [I love the silent era because you can see the rules being written, the grammar of film being created. Most of my films are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-mckean/i-love-the-silent-era-because-you-can-see-the-rules-being-written-the/) [Dave McKean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-mckean/) > [“Sex is a matter of biology, while gender is a matter of grammar, and there is no earthly reason why sex should be involved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-l-trask/sex-is-a-matter-of-biology-while-gender-is-a-matter-of-grammar-and/) R.L. Trask > [I wish those red, squiggly spellcheck lines would show up when some people talk.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-wish-those-red-squiggly-spellcheck-lines-would-show-up-when-some/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ Leo Crowley, Harry \[Truman\]'s Foreign Economic Administrator, tells Congressmen the theory...: 'If you create good governments in foreign countries, automatically you will have better… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/leo-crowley-harry-truman-s-foreign-economic-administrator-tells/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One of the things I like about my job is that it draws on the entire person: not just your knowledge of grammar and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/one-of-the-things-i-like-about-my-job-is-that-it-draws-on-the-entire/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [“I felt mildly peculiar to be treasuring love letters for their grammar, but there was nothing else I could treasure them for.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-waterhouse/i-felt-mildly-peculiar-to-be-treasuring-love-letters-for-their/) [Keith Waterhouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-waterhouse/) > [Hey autocorrect, stop messing with my damn curse words. You mother forklift.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/hey-autocorrect-stop-messing-with-my-damn-curse-words-you-mother/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 645 Grammar quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grammar/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Damn the subjunctive. It brings all our writers to shame.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Twain" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/damn-the-subjunctive-it-brings-all-our-writers-to-shame/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Grammar" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/damn-the-subjunctive-it-brings-all-our-writers-to-shame/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/mark-twain-22_grammar_damn-the-subjunctive-it-brings-all-our-w_342333.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/mark-twain-22_grammar_damn-the-subjunctive-it-brings-all-our-w_342333.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/mark-twain-22_grammar_damn-the-subjunctive-it-brings-all-our-w_342333.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Damn the subjunctive. It brings all our writers to shame.” — Mark Twain", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mark Twain", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Damn the subjunctive. It brings all...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/damn-the-subjunctive-it-brings-all-our-writers-to-shame/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/damn-the-subjunctive-it-brings-all-our-writers-to-shame/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```