I heard native speakers use present tense in the following sentence.
But I think the correct grammar is took and called. Are there any circumstances to allow present tense in subjunctives?Would it be alright if I take a rain check? Would it be alright if I call you Annie?
Short answer:
The correct answer for the OP is that 'if I take' is perfectly correct modern English. 'If I take' and 'if I took' mean the same thing.
Long answer:
It seems like there's a lot of confusion in the answers about tenses and whether a subjunctive construction needs to use a past or present tense verb.
This is to misunderstand both the English subjunctive mood, or irrealis, how the subjunctive is actually spoken in modern English, and to add further confusion rather than answer the OP's question.
The subjunctive mood does not convey tense or sense of time. It conveys senses of uncertainty and doubt independent of time. To quote Wikipedia:
In Modern English, the subjunctive is realised as a finite but tenseless clause where the main verb occurs in the bare form.... the English subjunctive is reflected by a clause type rather than a distinct inflectional paradigm. [Emphasis added]
In other words, there's no need to use the past tense form of verbs, or to use 'singular were', 'should', 'would', etc.
Arguments about the 'correctness' of past or present 'tense' of verbs used to construct subjunctive clauses tend to ignore the fact that a) English speakers, in reality, tend to be all over the place as to which form of a verb they choose when constructing sentences with a subjunctive meaning because b) using different tenses doesn't change the meaning of a subjunctive clause.
Would you mind if I take a rain check?
Would you mind if I were to take a rain check?
Would you mind if I took a rain check?
Mean exactly the same thing, and all are equally correct. If you use 'took' instead of 'take' there is still nothing 'past' about the construction. Indeed, the person is talking about the possibility of taking a rain check in the future ... yet no future tense verbs are used in the construction, as they'd create a sense of realis future definiteness that won't work with the irrealis intent. "Would you mind if I will take a rain check?" is ungrammatical and nonsensical.
Subjunctive pick and mix:
If I was to learn English, I would be well-advised to practice.
If I were to learn English, I will be well-advised to practice.
If I am to learn English, I would be well-advised to practice.
If I were to learn English, I should be well-advised to practice.
If I am to learn English, I shall be well-advised to practice.
Different subjunctive constructions, all grammatical (even if some still consider 'was' to be 'wrong'), using different 'tenses' and forms of auxilliary verbs pretty much at random, all with exactly the same meaning.
Technically speaking you're asking for now or the future, which would be to use the present tense "call"...
But if we've done it in the past such as when we were speaking to somebody else about you then it would be "called".
Although most people would not notice if you used call or called interchangeably in this type of situation.
The same would be true with taking a rain check... Although the difference convey between them can mean something slightly different...
If you ask in the past tense it means that your mind is already made up that you wish to take a rain check... Do you mind if I took a rain check... It means there is less room for negotiation... Do you mind if I take a rain check? Is truly asking whether or not they will mind and wanting to have a conversation about it. It can convey that you are willing to explain why you want to take a rain check... Whereas do you mind if I took a rain check conveys more that it's an open and shut case and that you are not necessarily willing to negotiate or discuss it further.
So sometimes saying something in the past tense, although it is not technically correct, can add a weight to what you're saying in the sense of conveying that it is not negotiable and therefore the decision has already been made and you are just pretending at niceties. (Which maybe what you are doing with the first example as well... Which is why, not only is it more correct, but also more polite, to ask in the present tense, if you may do something.)
Would it be alright if I take a rain check?
[present tense] for a future opportunity [noun]?[present tense] a voucher for later [noun]?[present tense] (the event) [noun]?
Would it be alright if I call you Annie?
The verb is possibly used as a present tense subjunctive, by taking the infinitive form and removing "to". (See present tense Subjunctive below)
Either way, they are asking for permission to call her "Annie" from this point (in time) forward.
- Would it be alright if I took a rain check?
- Would it be alright if I called you Annie?
These sentences could be understood two different ways depending on context:
You are right that the speaker could be using the subjunctive mood that suggests a desire for things to be different than the currently are. (see Subjunctives below)
However, the speaker could be asking if what they did in the past was allowed or acceptable.
[past tense] your car yesterday?[past tense] you Annie (in the book I wrote)?[past tense] the oven on (before I went to work)?"Are there any circumstances to allow present tense in subjunctives?"
This snippet below from gymglish.com1 has a good answer for your question about present tense subjunctives:
The present subjunctive is used in constructions such as:
They suggested that he come with them.
In English, the present subjunctive functions independently of time. It is formed by taking the infinitive form of the verb and removing "to".
This snippet from Wikipedia has a good explanation of what defines subjunctive mood 2.
The subjunctive is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality such as: wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, obligation, or action that has not yet occurred.
[1] https://www.gymglish.com/en/gymglish/english-grammar/the-subjunctive-present-tense
As you mentioned, this is the subjunctive mood. The prescriptive answer would be that the past tense "should" be used. However mixing the tenses doesn't prevent the message getting across so native speakers may say it either way without consequence.
You can think of the subjunctive as a way of placing the events being described in an imaginary/alternate place. This is called the irrealis mood. This softens the message because it creates distance from what's happening right now. It's almost as if you're delaying asking the question for real. i.e. "I'm not saying this is real, so it's ok if you say no."
Whereas it's also technically valid to say: "Will it be ok if I take a rain check?" This makes the question more direct and concrete. It also carries a subtle implication that you think the answer should be a yes and you're asking if they will penalize you for it.
Some of the other answers are discussing the actual past tense in the sense of speaking about the past. In this case you would say something like "Would it have been ok if I had called you Annie?"
Those are the examples of the spoken AmE or BrE when smbd asking for advice. Both types of utterances are possible in the spoken conversation. Though, the utterance having the Present tense in the if clause has got a grammatical typo if it is in the written form . The written sentence usually looks as this: "Would it be allright? Err... If I take a raincoat ?" in many cases; or the way you showed it in your request because of the mistakes of auditory perception due to the lack of the colloquial speech's practice.
