Let’s take a close look at the sentence you presented:
“President Aquino directed the Department of Agriculture to ensure that 2 per cent of its annual budget
be allocated for the implementation of its programs and policies on organic agriculture.”
It is a complex sentence, with “President Aquino directed the Department of Agriculture to ensure [something]” as the main clause and with “that 2 per cent of its annual budget be allocated for the implementation of its programs and policies on organic agriculture” as a relative “that”-clause that serves as the direct object of the verb “ensure.” (Functionally, this relative clause represents the “something” I enclosed in brackets above.)
Now, the verb “be” instead of “is” is used in that relative clause because the sentence is in the
subjunctive mood. That particular form of the subjunctive (this mood takes six forms in all) expresses a directive that a particular action be taken. In such subjunctive sentences, the verb used to express present or past desires in the “that”-clause always takes the bare form of the infinitive (in this case, “be” not preceded by “to”), regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural.
The verb “be” consistently exhibits this deviant behavior in present-tense subjunctive “that”-clauses no matter what person or number is taken by the subject, as we can see in the following sentences:
“The trial court ruled
that I be allowed to post bail.”
“The trial court ruled
that he be allowed to post bail.”
“The trial court ruled
that she be allowed to post bail.”
“The trial court ruled
that we be allowed to post bail.”
“The trial court ruled
that Miss X be allowed to post bail.”
“The trial court ruled
that you be allowed to post bail.”
“The trial court ruled
that they be allowed to post bail.”
These sentences may sound too stiff or too formal for comfort, but that’s the way it is for sentences in the subjective mood.
To better understand this odd behavior of verb “be” in the subjunctive, we need to recall that in English, there are three general moods of verbs,
mood being that aspect of the verb that expresses the state of mind or attitude of the speaker toward what he or she is saying. These three moods are the
indicative mood, the
imperative mood, and the
subjunctive mood. Both the indicative mood and the imperative mood deal with actions or states in factual or real-world situations. In contrast, the subjunctive mood deals with actions or states only as possible, contingent, or conditional outcomes of a want, wish, preference, or uncertainty expressed by the speaker.
The subjunctive mood only has present-tense and past-tense forms, but it has a more varied and complex grammatical repertoire than the indicative and imperative. Indeed, it can take several forms to perform these tasks: (1) indicate a possibility (2) express a desire or wishful attitude, (3) express insistence on a particular action, (4) express doubt about a certain outcome, (5) describe an unreal situation or an idea contrary to fact, or (6) express a request or suggestion.
You may want to read a related posting I made in the Forum in December 2009 in response to a misuse of the subjunctive by a newspaper columnist (
“The proper use of the English subjunctive”). For a more comprehensive discussion of subjunctive usage, however, I suggest you check out my book
Give Your English the Winning Edge. It devotes three chapters to the mood and attitude of verbs, the subjective and its functions, and simpler alternatives for the subjunctive.
