Definition:
A set expression in the subjunctive mood (such as God save the Queen!), usually found in an independent clause. The formulaic subjunctive generally conveys the meaning of let or may.
Like the mandative subjunctive, the formulaic subjunctive consists of the base form of the verb. It is distinctive only in the third-person singular of the present tense. (In other words, the -s ending is omitted.)
See also:
Examples and Observations:
- "Sarita draped the belt around her neck, as if to signal that the storm had receded. 'Heaven help us all,' she said quietly. 'Heaven help us all.'"
(April Sinclair, I Left My Back Door Open. HarperCollins, 1999) - "His mother might say, 'Like father, like son,' but Sambal regularly earned a hundred and fifty to two hundred rupees. No robbery or petty thieving--heaven forbid!"
(Saroj Pathak, "Saugandh (The Vow)." Women Writing in India: The Twentieth Century, ed. by Susie Tharu and K. Lalita. Feminist Press, 1993) - "By my dispatch of the 27th of September the Duke of Wellington was instructed to declare, that 'to any interference by force or menace on the part of the allies against Spain, come what may, His Majesty will not be party.'"
(George Caning, "Negotiations Relative to Spain," April 30, 1823. Selected Speeches on British Foreign Policy, 1738-1914, ed. by Edgar R. Jones, 1914) - "Perish the thought! that in our bosoms never
Should wake those airy raptures that were ours
Ere fled the freshness of our youth forever--
When joy was crowned with flowers;"
(William H. C. Hosmer, "The Ideal")
- "A Tombstone lawyer was pleading his case to a jury in Judge Wells Spicer's court when a burro beneath the window started braying loudly. Lawyer Marcus A. Smith arose and gravely said, 'If it please the court, I object to the two attorneys speaking at the same time.'"
(Wayne Erbsen, Outlaw Ballads, Legends & Lore. Native Ground Music, 1996) - Formulaic Subjunctives in Legal English
"In legal usage, the formulaic subjunctive is still very much alive, as in the frequent phrase know all men by these presents. It is even more common in the passive. Some examples are be it known and be it remembered. Another illustration is the British enactment clause, which is found at the beginning of all statutes:Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same. . . .
This clause illustrates not just the subjunctive, but several other common features of legal English: French word order (Lords Spiritual and Temporal), formal or pompous language (Queen's most Excellent Majesty), conjoined phrases (by and with, advice and consent), odd word order (in Parliament assembled), and use of same as a pronoun. Although a paragon of legalese, it also has a majestic flair that would be hard to achieve with more banal phraseology. Phrases such as this one surely go far in explaining why lawyers are so reluctant to give up their idiosyncratic language."
(Peter M. Tiersma, Legal Language. The University of Chicago Press, 1999)
Also Known As: frozen form