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Read the melodramatic student's email to their professor. Select ALL the sentences that correctly use fixed subjunctive expressions to complete the dramatic plea.
The correct answers are: Be that as it may, I humbly request a 24-hour extension on my essay. I will write an extra ten pages tonight, if need be. If you decide to fail me, then so be it!
"Be that as it may" means "nevertheless" or "even if that is true."
"If need be" means "if it is necessary."
"So be it" expresses acceptance of a situation, even an undesirable one.
Because these are fixed expressions left over from older English, we cannot update their grammar to modern indicative forms like "as it is" or "if needs are." They must remain frozen in their subjunctive forms!