She Commands The Subjunctive!

Sensational murder trial in Italy. As usual when a woman is a defendant, the press has to describe what she's wearing:

On Friday, Ms. Knox appeared in Perugia’s Renaissance-era court house to tell her side of the story for the first time. Dressed in a white shirt and tan slacks, her long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, Ms. Knox said that ....

OK, now that we have that out of the way, this is the part I like best:

Driving much of the media attention are the conflicting portrayals of Ms. Knox, who is alternately described as a pot-smoking, sex-crazed girl gone wild, and a hard-working college student who saved her money to study in Perugia only to find herself in jail for more than a year and a half for a crime she says she never committed.

On Friday, Ms. Knox appeared confident, ebullient and in good humor throughout the day-long hearing. She spoke in both English and fluent Italian, with a command of the subjunctive that allowed her to navigate the many hypothetical clauses in her testimony.

See, that's what O.J. Simpson needed: a command of the subjunctive.