Was vs Were

[Brian G Turner]

I checked up on this today, so thought others might find this useful:

Orange Crate Art: If I were, if I was

"If I were" (the past subjunctive) is appropriate in stating conditions that are contrary to fact:

If I were a bell, I'd go ding dong ding dong ding. (Frank Loesser)

If I were a carpenter and you were a lady, would you marry me anyway? (Tim Hardin)

If I were a rich man, [yadda, yadda, yadda]. (Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock)​

Each of the above sentences states a condition that is not the case: I'm not a bell, not a carpenter, not a rich man.

"If I was" (the past indicative) is appropriate in stating conditions that are not contrary to fact. Here you might say that the truth or falsity of the condition is not certain.

 

[alchemist]

And there was me thinking it depended on how posh you were...

 

[HareBrain]

I read that article with Focus's "Hocus Pocus" playing in the background, and it seemed a perfect match.

 

[chrispenycate]

I think the subjunctive is sufficiently rare by now as to require a preservation nowadays. Only a few pedants still use it in conversation, and even in literature I no longer wince at it's disappearance. Oh, I will remain true unto death, no doubt, but how long will that be?

But I feel the distinction they make is artificial, trying to explain why the population of subjunctives is dropping off irregularly rather than all at once. If I were cleverer (not an impossibility, though a little late now) perchance I could find adequate examples - if I were a richer man, or, as I'm just as likely t phrase it, were I a richer man, I could employ others for the task. And that possibility is far from negligible (although I probably wouldn't, anyway). And Alc, I am not posh; I blame my parents.

 

[Fishbowl Helmet]

If I were you vs if I was you.

One sounds right, the other sounds drunk.

 

[thaddeus6th]

It doesn't need to be contrary to fact.

A theoretical situation or one that might be true takes 'were'.

"If I were to ask you for a quickie, what would you say?"

It's depressing that I learnt the subjunctive/indicative difference from self-teaching (badly) myself a little bit of a foreign language rather than English at school.

 

[J Riff]

Were sounds better sung than was does. I'm fairly sure that's why were was chosen over was.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I think, since the subjunctive may be gradually falling into disuse, there are places where it is iffy which one to choose, and places where it is still obvious.

 

[Parson]

Sigh! And where did I learn of the subjunctive case? In grammar school? No. In High School? No. In College? No. In Seminary? Yes. But only as they tried to teach me about Greek and Hebrew.

 

[Wiglaf]

I normally go by ear but, just to double check, subjunctive is were and conditional is was? Conditional and subjunctive confused me in Spanish and I never learnt them formally in English.

 

[farntfar]

Thaddeus.
Your point stands.
But surely the were in your example relates to "Were I to ask", not "Were you to give me a quickie".
As for the likelihood/possibility of either, you must be the judge of that.

(P.S. In that last sentence who would say "As for the likelihood" ansd who "As to the likelihood"?)

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I was going ...
They were going ...

That's something else though. Singulars and Plurals of a tense?