<p>Feeling that the committee had too hastily decided several important issues, Councilman Chambers asked for further consideration to be given to his colleague's proposal. No error</p>
<p>The error occurs at asked for.</p>
<p>I understand that it should be "asked that" and the construction is "asked that... to be given" but I don't understand the grammatical rule behind this concept. The subjunctive predicate or something? I did not acquire a great English background in freshman/sophomore year. Can someone kindly explain this concept?
Websites and/or examples are helpful.</p>
<p>Can someone give me an example of a different sentence with “asked that” and one with “asked for”?</p>
<p>It is a subjunctive, and it follows commands and demands. The “to” infinitive is not used, as in your example, but rather the “bare” infinitive, or verb stem:</p>
<p>They asked that X be given Y.
He insisted that X come to dinner.</p>
<p>This holds true regardless of tense in the finite verb:</p>
<p>We request that you honor us with your presence.</p>
<p>For is a preposition, so it needs to be followed by something that can be analyzed as a noun phrase. I just can’t think of any examples that parallel this situation. Maybe the simple</p>
<p>They asked for further consideration of the proposal.</p>
<p>@WasatchWriter</p>
<p>They asked for further consideration of the proposal.
vs
They asked that further consideration be given to the proposal.</p>
<p>These two sentences sound the same to me </p>
<p>Why is it called subjunctive if it’s a demand? Doesn’t subjunctive denote a mood of verbs that indicate wishful thinking? Demands seem contrary to wishful thinking.</p>
<p>Ask that [someone do something/something happen]</p>
<p>Bob’s doctor asked that he stop eating paste.
Bob’s doctor asked that paste not be served for dinner.</p>
<p>Ask for [something]</p>
<p>Bob asked for a bowl of paste.</p>
<p>“Wishful thinking” is too narrow a concept to cover the subjunctive. A more general approach (but still oversimplified) would be to say that the subjunctive identifies states that have not or might not come to be. That includes wishes (which often do not come true) as well as demands (which likewise might not be granted). Note there there is nothing inherently wishful in this statement: “If the house were on fire, the dog would be dead.”</p>
<p>Clearly you’ve never met my dog.</p>