Comparatives and subjunctives

[Igor]

Hello everybody!

There are the sentences from TOEFL practice book:

It is necessary to put a return address that included your name, street number, city, state, and zip code on all correspondence.

It's clear that " included" should be " includes", but the word " necessary" give an in idea about subjunctive mode. Because of it, we should use " put" instead of " to put". But it must be only one mistake in the sentence.

The next confusing sentence:

Although there are approximately 120 intensive language institutes in the United States in 1970, there are more than three times as many now.

Main clause starts with " there are". But, what's the subject for main clause? Also, to compare we have to use " as many as".

...,there are institutes more than three times as many as it was...

I need an explanation.

Thanks.

[raghuveer_v]

Hello Igor,

Although there are approximately 120 intensive language institutes in the United States in 1970, there are more than three times as many now.

I am quoting the following from Cliff's TOEFL Prep guide ...

"In some scentences, the true subject does not appear in normal subject position. There can act as a pseudo-subject and is treated like a subject ... . However, the true subject appears after the verb, and the number of the true subject controls the verb."

so, the subject of the main clause must be "intensive language institutes".

When "as many as" is used, the structure should be ...

"There are more than three times as many intensive language institutes in the United States now as there were in 1970."


"as many as" is sometimes used to intensify the quantity.

e.g., The king had as many as five wives.

and finally the correction in the scentence should be ...

Although there are were approximately 120 intensive language institutes in the United States in 1970, there are more than three times as many now.

Raghuveer.

[raghuveer_v]

Hello there again,

It is necessary to put a return address that included your name, street number, city, state, and zip code on all correspondence.

from CLIFF's TOEFL Prep. Guide ...

The word that must always appear in subjunctive scentences. If it is ommitted, most of the verbs are followed by the infinitive.

so, if you want to use "put", you shoud say ...

It is necessary that you put a return address that includes your name, street number, city, state, and zip code on all correspondence.

So, there is only one mistake in the scentence, which, as you said, is "included".

Any one wanna comment

Raghuveer.

[Erin]

Amazing response!!

I couldn't have said it better myself!!

Erin

[raghuveer_v]

Thanks Erin!

:o

Raghuveer.

[Igor]

Hello everybody!

Thanks for answering my questions.

In the sentence about " language institutions" there is the clue, " … in 1970.", that leads us directly to simple past tense. We can change " there are " to " there were " without reading the rest of the sentence. Therefore, my question is mostly about style of this sentence. When is it appropriate to use a main clause without a clear subject?
In our case the main clause is "there are more than three times as many now".
Thanks.