- Try as we may, we cannot swim to that rock.
- Say what he will, he can never convince me.
- Come what will, I’ll stand my ground.
- Be that as it may, my mind is made up.
II. Condition
- Were I asked, I could tell all the facts. [If I were asked, etc.]
- Had I known, I would have written to you. [If I had known, etc.
- >[
- I shall be twenty years old, come Tuesday. [If Tuesday come, etc.]
- I will go, rain or shine. [If it rain, or if it shine, etc.]
- Be he prince or be he pauper, every guest is welcome here.
Note. The subjunctive in these concessive and conditional uses is really the same as that in exhortations ([§ 278]). “Try [we] as we may” means literally, “Let us try as hard as we can,” and this has the force of “However hard we try” or “Although we try ever so hard.”
282. After as if (as though), the past subjunctive is used.
- He looks as if he were about to speak. [Not: as if he was about to speak.]
- I act as if I were crazy. [Not: as if I was crazy.]
283. The subjunctive may express not what is or was, but what would be or would have been, the case.
- It were safer to travel by day. [It would be safer, etc.]
- I had been wiser had I forded the river. [I should have been wiser if I had.]
This construction is old-fashioned. Modern English commonly uses should (or would) be, should (or would) have been, instead.
284. The subjunctive is occasionally used after that, lest, before, until, etc., in subordinate clauses referring to the future and commonly expressing purpose or expectation.