I wish I was/were there

We live a certain length of time with something in our heads, and it is difficult to change.

Katsudon wrote:

Philip wrote: Some people don't know about it, so it is ignored. K: This is something that is not possible, Philip. Every speaker of English is familiar with both forms. It's abundantly clear that the rules of English are not guided by what 'stuffy' speakers use. P: the subjunctive, largely no longer used in modern American English, K: This is untrue. The use of subjunctive 'were' is alive and well in AmE. P: ... have studied other Indo-European languages which still use it faithfully, diligently, emphatically, unmistakenly. In fact, most speakers of those languages don't even know the "rules" which govern its use....they just 'know' it's right. K: What some have them have not learned in their studies is that the rules for other languages do not govern English.

As an American and native English speaker, I agree that the subjunctive is commonly used, but mainly in the first person. It is far less common to say "if he were". However, the vast majority of Americans actually think that they are saying this incorrectly (similarly to how they say "good" for "well" knowing their mistake) and have never even heard the term "subjunctive". Personally, the only times I purposefully misuse English are with old and completely abandoned forms (such as thou/thee/ye and shall) and in instant messaging, which I honestly consider another language entirely. Furthermore, as a student of Latin, which has nearly 150 verb forms, I am perfectly aware that we do not use the same forms of the subjunctive. That does not mean it is a bad thing (or even not a good thing) to study foreign languages.

It is important to understand that what is taught to foreign students is taken for granted here, and when something that should be taken for granted is not, it completely falls apart.

I wish    I was there and I wish I were there are the same .They both express the same meaning .But it is preferable to use I wish I were .WHY ? so as to show that  this were here does not refer to a past situation but rather to  a present situation expressed by a subjunctive form .

I personally grew up hearing the set phrase If I were you... (not Were I you, which somebody quoted as a "stuffy" example). I did not have to learn about the subjunctive in Latin or Italian in order to use this form, but it's true that when I studied the subjunctive in those languages I did understand the difference better. Learning one language is often a help in learning another, although we should not allow a revival of that absurd, mystical idea, that you must study Latin in order to understand your own language!!

You have to take account of reality and the fact that a large number of native speakers do not regularly use this form. Nevertheless there are plenty of people who do still use it and it can't be considered archaic.

I teach it to my students as they will sooner or later encounter it, in reading if not in speaking, but I also tell them about the real situation among native speakers and that using I was all the time is not a serious mistake and perhaps not a mistake at all nowadays.

As for I wish.., a Pink Floyd song comes to mind (but no, that's 2nd person).

Just to be clear:
She is here - real present
If she were here - unreal present
She was here - real past
If she had been here - unreal past

If he were rich he would buy more clothes. Unreal present
If he was rich, it wasn't evident from the way he dressed. Possible past