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bambinobirbante
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A doubt with content 20 Nov 2022, 05:36
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Hi Experts,

While browsing through egmat website, I came across following article on gmatwhiz vs egmat.

https://e-gmat.com/blogs/egmat-vs-gmatw ... is-better/

There is a snippet in the article that reads "The GMAT is a life changing test. Hence, I recommend that everyone take a free trial and then decide which approach works best for him/her. Go for e-GMAT if you like our approach. Go for GMAT Whiz if you like theirs."

While reading this, I couldn't help but wonder if it should be "take" or "takes" as the noun is "everyone" which is singular and needs a singular verb. Is the sentence on the website incorrect or am I missing anything here?

Thank you.

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A doubt with content 20 Nov 2022, 05:59
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It should be 'take' because recommend is a command subjunctive verb. For more on this, look for a blog written by Chiranjiv Singh on this Subjunctive Mood

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bambinobirbante
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A doubt with content 20 Nov 2022, 06:18
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wadhwakaran
It should be 'take' because recommend is a command subjunctive verb. For more on this, look for a blog written by Chiranjiv Singh on this Subjunctive Mood

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Great help! And the article is super helpful as well. Thanks for the recommendation :)
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A doubt with content 29 Nov 2022, 22:49
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bambinobirbante
Hi Experts,

While reading this, I couldn't help but wonder if it should be "take" or "takes" as the noun is "everyone" which is singular and needs a singular verb. Is the sentence on the website incorrect or am I missing anything here?

Thank you.
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Hey bambinobirbante

Sorry for the delay in response. We’re happy to chip in on this discussion. The sentence on our website is indeed correct. Here’s why.

Here is the excerpt in question:


"The GMAT is a life changing test. Hence, I recommend that everyone take a free trial and then decide which approach works best for him/her. Go for e-GMAT if you like our approach. Go for GMAT Whiz if you like theirs."


Let’s zoom in on the sentence in question:

    “I recommend that everyone take a free trial and then decide which approach works best for him/her.”


The following are the important aspects of meaning to note in the sentence above:

    1. This sentence provides us with a recommendation or a suggestion. The underlined portion is the recommendation.

    2. The recommendation is a hypothetical idea. What does this mean? It means that the reality is that
      (a) not everyone takes a free trial, and
      (b) so, not everyone is able to decide which approach works best for him/her.
      The author wishes to recommend that everyone do something not done in reality (a hypothetical course of action).

In such situations, when hypothetical courses of action follow certain “Trigger Words” such as recommend, suggest, command, demand, insist, mandate, stipulate, dictate, etc., we need to use a Verb in the Subjunctive Mood, particularly the Present Subjunctive Verb.


Present Subjunctive Verbs are verbs in the “Base Form”, which is usually the Simple Present Plural form but not always. For instance, the base form of the verb “takes” is “take”. However, the base form of the verb “is/am/are/was/were/etc.” is “be”. So, instead of always looking for a Plural Verb, look for the “base form” of the verb. It is the form of the verb found in its “to-verb” phrase (to take, to decide, to be, etc.).

Now, this Subjunctive Form stays the same regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural. For example:

    1. I recommend that he take a free trial. (correct)

    2. I recommend that they take a free trial. (correct)

    3. I recommend that everyone take a free trial. (correct)

You’re right that the word “everyone” is singular. However, notice that the subjunctive verb ‘take’ remains the same regardless of the number of its subject (he, they, or everyone).


To conclude, the sentence in question has two Subjunctive Mood verbs: ‘take’ and ‘decide’. They are in the base form because they are in the Subjunctive Mood. We can easily identify the requirement of a subjunctive verb here owing to the trigger word “recommend” followed by a hypothetical course of action.


I hope this helps improve your understanding of the Subjunctive Mood.


Happy Learning!

Abhishek