Question e-mailed by Farhad H. from Karaj, Iran (April 28, 2014):
Which choice is correct? Please explain your reasons.
“As a matter of fact, ESP combines subject matter and English language teaching. Such a combination is highly motivating because students are able to apply what they learn in their English classes to their main field of study, whether it ________ accounting, business management, economics, computer science, or tourism.”
(a) is
(b) be
Thank you for taking the time to help me.
My reply to Farhad H.:
Frankly, to make a choice between “whether it is” and “whether it be” in that statement that you presented can just get you bogged down trying to figure out whether that statement is in the indicative mood or subjunctive mood. This early, therefore, I’ll already tell you that in that sentence construction, the best choice—but not necessarily the only choice—is neither the indicative “is” nor the subjunctive “be” but using no linking verb at all. You will then end up with the following no-frills, concise, and straightforward construction for that second sentence:
“Such a combination is highly motivating because students are able to apply what they learn in their English classes to their main field of study, whether accounting, business management, economics, computer science, or tourism.”
The above sentence is an example of elliptical construction, where the omission of one or more words that are obviously understood—in this case the words “it is” or “it be”—doesn’t change the meaning or sense of the sentence; instead, the excision makes the sentence more readable and better-sounding.
If elliptical construction isn’t resorted to, however, there really would be a need to formally figure out whether that second sentence is in the indicative mood or in the subjunctive mood.
Recall now that the indicative mood conveys the idea that an act or condition is (1) an objective fact, (2) an opinion, or (3) the subject of a question. Statements in the indicative mood seek to give the impression that the speaker is talking about real-world situations in a straightforward, truthful manner. As we all know, their operative verbs take their normal inflections in all the tenses and typically obey the subject-verb agreement rule at all times.
In contrast, the subjunctive mood is used to communicate the following: (1) a possibility (2) a desire or wishful attitude, (3) insistence on a particular action, (4) doubt about a certain outcome, (5) an unreal situation or an idea contrary to fact, or (6) a request or suggestion. The subjunctive form of the verb is used when the outcome of the action is not being asserted as a certainty but is only being supposed, being assumed or feared to be true, or being doubted. In the particular case of the present-tense subjunctive, keep in mind that the linking verb “be” exhibits the deviant behavior of not changing form at all no matter what person or number is taken by the subject. This explains why “be” rather than “is” is used in such subjunctive constructions as “So be it,” “Be that as it may,” and ““The university will also support the Church in its future actions should the bill be passed by Congress.” In such sentences, the outcomes are not certainties but are only being hoped for or assumed to happen given a certain condition.
Now let’s look closely at the second sentence of the statement that you presented: “Such a combination is highly motivating because students are able to apply what they learn in their English classes to their main field of study, whether it ________ accounting, business management, economics, computer science, or tourism.”
To figure out whether that sentence is in the indicative or subjunctive mood, we have to ask this question: Are the conditions in the clause “whether it ________ accounting, business management, economics, computer science, or tourism” being asserted as objective choices or alternatives, on one hand, or as hoped for or doubtful outcomes, on the other?
By close inspection, those conditions are clearly objective choices or alternatives in a real-world situation, not hoped for or doubtful outcomes in the mind of the writer or speaker. That sentence is therefore one in the indicative mood, and the correct form of the linking verb for it is the indicative “is”:
“Such a combination is highly motivating because students are able to apply what they learn in their English classes to their main field of study, whether it is accounting, business management, economics, computer science, or tourism.”
But then again, as I suggested at the very outset, it would be much better to use the following elliptical construction—without the words “it is”—to make that statement more concise and readable as well as better-sounding:
“As a matter of fact, ESP combines subject matter and English language teaching. Such a combination is highly motivating because students are able to apply what they learn in their English classes to their main field of study, whether accounting, business management, economics, computer science, or tourism.”
