Usage of "were" vs. "was"

Thank you Ryan, Mariam and others, for the very informative explanation. It was a good resolution to this question howering in my mind for years.

molihua,
If I understood your post correctly -but I'm not really sure I did- then your idea is not completely right.
"I" requires the "plural" form (to use your terminology) of the verb "to be" only in a very specific case (that of the subjunctive, which has been already explained).

Now, you refer not only to the verb "to be", but to linking verbs in general. And I'm afraid that is not accurate either. English verbs are not inflected for the plural.

Miriam

>

Brava! Brava! Brava!

Not to be prescriptive, I would like to *describe* what's in my dictionary at a particular entry:

judgment (also judgement) ...

Did you know that? It leapt out at me because I had spelled it with the "e" in a grade school spelling bee more years ago than I'll ever admit, and I was out!

But seriously, is it a just a matter of getting students through tests? If so, unfortunately prescriptive is the way to go.

If they really want to know something about the living language, warts and all, then descriptive is where it's at.

Personally, if I was to be asked, I'd've found it hard to do prescriptive. hee hee hee

Jim,
I'm sorry you were out because of your correct spelling of "judgement". Yes, both forms are accepted, and I tend to use the one that takes the "e".

I don't know if the rest of your post was still about something I said. Would you please clarify it for me?

Thank you.

Miriam

>> Being of practical mind, it strikes me as odd to use 'were' in the wishful/subjective sense, but since it seems to stypically strike others as less educated <<

No! no! no! I think you must be confused. the "were" form does not strike others as "less educated". It's the *"If I was" form that does. The others were pointing out that in some dialects, in informal registers *"If I was" is not heavily stigmatized-- *not* that it is the correct form, but rather it is an *informal* form. In other dialects of English, such as my own, it is not even correct informally. "If I were" is the *only* correct form, and in fact is a set phrase.