MrPedantic wrote:I notice that some BrE-speakers (political interviewees, for instance) use both "if...were" and "if...was", e.g. in structures such as: 1. If it were necessary to do X, Y would... 2. If it wasn't for the fact that X, Y would... I don't take this as a difference in register; there seems to be a tendency in some speakers to use the "were" form for remote speculation, and the "was" form for "counterfactual but quite likely" statements. MrP
I notice that some BrE-speakers (political interviewees, for instance) use both "if...were" and "if...was", e.g. in structures such as:
1. If it were necessary to do X, Y would...
2. If it wasn't for the fact that X, Y would...
I don't take this as a difference in register; there seems to be a tendency in some speakers to use the "were" form for remote speculation, and the "was" form for "counterfactual but quite likely" statements.
MrP
<...I would almost always use "if I were" rather than "if I was"...>
When do you think you might use "If I was", Marvin, out of interest?
MrPedantic wrote:<...I would almost always use "if I were" rather than "if I was"...> When do you think you might use "If I was", Marvin, out of interest? MrP
really?
come on now...
ohhhhhhhhh I wish I were an oscar meyer weiner! that is what I truely wish to be!
everyone knows its wish I were....
Interesting.
I thought this was supposed to be a linguistics thread.
And yet it seems like you are all having nothing more than an entirely subjective argument about what is "correct" English or not.
JJM
I wish I were there