ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: is/was/were

Philip — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:59:11 GMT

Grammar Geek

Technically, you should not use "was" -- but you're going to hear that more and more as the subjunctive slowly disappears from American English.

We could set up "The Society For the Preservation Of the Use Of the Subjunctive In American English" [SPUSAE]. We could collect $2 annual dues. I'll volunteer to be treasurer for the first year. >>

Re: is/was/were

Grammar Geek — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:58:38 GMT

Use "is" if you think there really is a way, but you just don't know how to do it. "Is" is not contrary to fact.

Use "were" if you think there really is NOT a way to do this, and you know it to be contrary to fact. This is the subjunctive.

Technically, you should not use "was" -- but you're going to hear that more and more as the subjunctive slowly disappears from American English.

is/was/were

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:07:05 GMT

Hi there.

Initially, I used "is", but I'm thinking that I should have used "was/were".

"If there IS/WAS/WERE a way of back-dating entries, I might just set a Wordpress account up."

Thanks.