Question
Hi, there

Could you help me with two questions?

1)Does it sound odd to say "A large corporation selected and paid foster mother Elizabeth Osei. Now she is in jail awaiting a murder trial in the three-year-old boy morphine overdose death case."?

Should I say "In the three-year-old boy's morphine overdose death case" or maybe "In the case of the morphine overdose death of a three-year-old boy."

Which one of the three?

2) Do you say "The judge in or on the case"?

3) Do you say "it is only fair that he pay half of the cost." and "This is an extremely important issue and I think t is only right that this House have codecision powers."

or "it is only fair that he pays half of the cost." and "This is an extremely important issue and I think t is only right that this House has codecision a powers."

Indicative or subjunctive?

Thank you very much

Question

Question
Hi, there

Could you help me with two questions?

1)Does it sound odd to say "A large corporation selected and paid foster mother Elizabeth Osei. Now she is in jail awaiting a murder trial in the three-year-old boy morphine overdose death case."?

Should I say "In the three-year-old boy's morphine overdose death case" or maybe "In the case of the morphine overdose death of a three-year-old boy."

Which one of the three?

2) Do you say "The judge in or on the case"?

3) Do you say "it is only fair that he pay half of the cost." and "This is an extremely important issue and I think t is only right that this House have codecision powers."

or "it is only fair that he pays half of the cost." and "This is an extremely important issue and I think t is only right that this House has codecision a powers."

Indicative or subjunctive?

Thank you very much

Answer

1.
It doesn't sound odd, but it does sound like they paid her to kill the child. You might want to make it clear that they didn't do that (or if they did, that's one evil company)
2.
I'd agree with Peachey that a judge presides over a case.  But US usage will let you say "the judge on the case" in casual speech.
3.
"Is," "is," and "think" are indicative mood.  "pay" and "have" (not pays and has) are subjunctive mood.

Answer

Hi Gabriel,

1)  The sentence is perfectly fine as it is. The phrase "the three-year-old boy morphine overdose death case" is basically a massive compound noun.  No need to change it.

2) Neither. A judge "presides over" a case.

3) You can use either subjunctive or indicative for the phrase about paying half the cost. Think about which one conveys your meaning correctly.  For the second phrase, you need indicative because it's not properly set up for subjunctive (look a little earlier in the sentence - that's really stretching it if you want to use subjunctive).

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