The Classification of Words

§ 298. Both members of subjunctive II grammemes and those of should-would grammemes present an action as con­trary to reality.
E.g. If he were older and understood the real meaning of his act, he w о и I d n' t d r e a m of going there. (Browne).
§ 299. As usual, the perfect forms express 'priority', the non-perfect ones expressing no specification in this re­spect; they may denote an action imagined as simultaneous with some real action or following it. If no real action is mentioned in the sentence priority is expressed with refer­ence to the act of speech.
E. g. I wish you were more reliable.
I wish you h a d n' t followed his advice.
• If he w e r e to say it, she would reply "All
right". (Wilson).
Would grammemes tend to oust should grammemes, see § 265.
181

Even had she not guessed he was gham).
known, she a good tennis
would have player. (Mau-

§ 300. Besides being regularly used in subordinate clauses of condition (or concession, introduced by even if) subjunctive II grammemes are actually obligatory in clauses following the verb 'wish'.
E. g. I wish you were more attentive. I wish you h a d n't done it.
Likewise, they regularly occur after as if, as though (in predicative and comparative clauses).
E. g. He looked as if he were an animation of n La Fontaine fable. (Wilson).
Eric listened entranced as though Haviland himself had been the discoverer rather than the bearer of tidings. (Wilson).
§301. Should—would subjunctive grammemes, besides being used in principal clauses of complex sentences (in com­bination with subjunctive II grammemes in subordinate clauses) may occur in simple sentences, e. g. But for you the wrong man would have been punished, occasionally in subordinate clauses, e. g. This plan which would have b e e n a success a week before, now failed through (The Worker), in which case they are distinguished from their indicative homonyms in not having those surround­ings which regularly bring about the appearance of the corresponding indicative grammemes.
Cf. / know hewouldsay exactly the same thing under
the circumstances. (Wilson). He said that they would be back in an hour or so.
Would say cannot be mistaken for a member of an indic­ative grammeme (relative posteriority), non-perfect, active, etc.), its distribution, its environment being different from that of posteriority grammemes.