By Singular verbs, Conditionals

Eh, Rothkowitz, this has sometjhing to do with what I just asked! (see the thread "If I knew what you knew") It seems both "I wish I could say I was happy" and "I wish I could say I'm happy" can be used with the same meaning. Anyway, I think that the sentence with "was" sounds better, maybe...

Mister Micawber wrote:In all indicative mood sentences, it is a singular pronoun taking the singular verb. The example that you have exhumed, however, is a use of the subjunctive were used in conditional sentences stating a present condition contrary to fact (the trophy is not in fact the...

In all indicative mood sentences, it is a singular pronoun taking the singular verb. The example that you have exhumed, however, is a use of the subjunctive were used in conditional sentences stating a present condition contrary to fact (the trophy is not in fact the speaker's). Were appears...

Calif Jim I used past tense in the 'posing' example because I was imagining a press article describing the event. When we say "Manchester United are (or is) posing for photos", we are doing so in the belief that the listener or reader will infer we mean the players - or at least those players...

You're right that the subject "none" calls for a singular verb, but the "if" makes the clause conditional, so "were" is correct. Similar examples: "If it were up to me..." and "If I were you..." Sweeney Todd is a musical about a murderous barber.