I wish I was/were there

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Guest

#109250 Wed, 15 Jun 05 09:42 PM

Which is grammatically correct and why:

I wish I were there.

OR

I wish I was there.

Guest

ranchhand

#109280 Wed, 15 Jun 05 11:54 PM

Which is grammatically correct and why:

I wish I were there.

OR

I wish I was there.

=================

Both are grammatically correct because in modern English, the only thing needed to express a counterfactual situation is a past tense verb.

If I was you = I'm not you,

just as,

If I were you = I'm not you.

It works the same way with 'wish'.

ranchhand

Joined on Sun, May 15 2005

Junior Member (81)

Past tenses, Tenses, Verbs

paco2004

#109301 Thu, 16 Jun 05 01:16 AM

Question and Answer in an online site
[Q] Which is grammatically correct: "I wish I were you" or "I wish I was you"?
Angel [A]

Older, prescriptive grammar books insist on the use of the subjunctive form "were". Most modern, descriptive grammar books accept both "were" and "was" as being grammatically acceptable, but they suggest that "I wish I were" is more appropriate in formal contexts.

My opinion:
Each ESL student has their own purpose of learning English. If your purpose is just to talk with native speakers, you can use "I wish I was". But if you want to study something by reading books or other forms of formal documents written in English, it would be better you learn "I wish I were" is more appropriate, because writers of such a document mostly have used and still are using "I wish I were" in their writing.

paco

paco2004

Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004

Senior Member (4,095)

In Japan today even dogs are learning how to bow-wow in English.

Grammar, Learning English, Subjunctives

katsudon

#109332 Thu, 16 Jun 05 04:12 AM

The older prescriptive grammars were simply wrong. Their analysis was wrong and the proof they offered was wrong. It was just one more rule that was wrong from the outset. The rule actually changed hundreds of years ago and yet these prescriptive grammars kept on misanalyzing this for centuries.

A student who isn't made aware of these differences really hasn't learned the language. A student who doesn't realize how and when to use different collocations really hasn't learned the language.

Language is much more than formal documents. Studies have shown that most students want to use English for the more casual things; watching a movie, listening to music, talking in English. There is far too much emphasis put on the formal aspects of language and this is actually very sad because this doesn't adequately prepare students for real life.

IMHO the collocations, "I wish I were/was" would be as rare as hen's teeth in formal documents. There is much of language that is reserved for formal and much that is reserved for casual. Relying on one form only can make your language sound very stilted.

My students often choose words inappropriate {too formal} for the register. This sounds just as bad as using casual language in a formal setting. They've learned numerous bad language habits precisely because of this terrible system known as grammar translation.

katsudon

Joined on Fri, Jun 10 2005

Junior Member (53)

Grammar, Translation

MrPedantic

#109366 Thu, 16 Jun 05 07:46 AM

The older prescriptive grammars were simply wrong. Their analysis was wrong and the proof they offered was wrong.

You intrigue me, K.

Do you have any examples?

MrP

MrPedantic

Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004

Veteran Member (11,963)

...opella forensis / adducit febris...

MrPedantic

#109767 Fri, 17 Jun 05 12:24 AM

On second thoughts, K., I don't want to weigh down the thread with learned documentation. See:

Post:109766

MrP

MrPedantic

chumpalumpa

#109939 Fri, 17 Jun 05 01:17 PM

This explanation, from Pete at englishpage.com I think is one of the best explanations:

http://www.englishpage.com/forums/students/viewtopic.php?p=13154#13154

The correct form is,
- I wish I were there.

You use this form to show an "unreal" situation, i.e. the thing you are wishing for is not the way things really are.

You may sometimes hear "was" used, since the subjunctive is relatively uncommon in English and people sometimes forget to use it, but "were" is definitely the correct verb.
_________________
---- Pete

chumpalumpa

Joined on Thu, Jun 16 2005

New Member (01)

Subjunctives, Verbs

ranchhand

#110197 Sat, 18 Jun 05 04:35 AM

"You may sometimes hear "was" used, since the subjunctive is relatively uncommon in English ..."

:s

Googled: Results 1 - 10 of about 5,060,000 English pages for "if I were".

"... and people sometimes forget to use it, ... ."

:s

Googled: Results 1 - 10 of about 3,560,000 English pages for "if I was".

ranchhand

Subjunctives

paco2004

#110226 Sat, 18 Jun 05 09:49 AM

If you restrict your search domain to ".edu", the result would be like this:
"If I were you" 12,000
"If I was you" 689.
I think people come here to learn the variety of English spoken by educated people.

paco

paco2004

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