appear as clausal complements of non-veridical operators. The most common use of the English subjunctive is the mandative or jussive subjunctive, which is optionally used in the clausal complements of some predicates whose meanings involve obligation. (5) Mandative subjunctive: a. I insist that he leave us alone. b. We demand that it be done tomorrow. c. It's preferable that you not publish the story. d. My recommendation is that they not be punished. The following pair illustrates the semantic contribution of the subjunctive mandative. The subjunctive example unambiguously expresses a desire for a future situation, whereas the non-subjunctive (indicative) example is potentially ambiguous, either (i) expressing a desire to change the addressee's beliefs about the current situation, or (ii) as a "covert mandative", having the same meaning as the subjunctive mandative. (6) Subjunctive mandative compared: a. Subjunctive mandative: I insist that Andrea be here. b. Indicative (whether non-mandative or covert mandative): I insist that Andrea is here. The subjunctive is thus not the only means of marking an embedded clause as mandative: examples can be ambiguous between mandative and non-mandative interpretations, and dialects vary in their use of the subjunctive. In particular, the subjunctive is more widely used in American English than in British English. (The covert mandative is very unusual in American English.) Use of the subjunctive mandative increased during the 20th century in American, British, and Australian English. The subjunctive is occasionally found in clauses expressing a probable condition, such as If I be found guilty… (more common is am or should be; for more information see English conditional sentences). This usage is mostly old-fashioned or formal, although it is found in some common fixed expressions such as if need be. Somewhat more common is the use after whether in the exhaustive conditional construction: "He must be tended with the same care, whether he be friend or foe." In both of these uses, it is possible to invert subject and verb and omit the subordinator. Analogous uses are occasionally found after other words, such as unless, until, whoever, wherever: (7) a. Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. b. Whoever he be, he shall not go unpunished. In most of the above examples a construction with should can be used as