Can a grammar wizard help me?

[pat]

When I write or speak, I keep finding myself saying "If I were..." or "If he were..." Intellectually, I keep thinking those should be "was", since the verb is singular. (Interestingly enough, I am less likely to use "were" if there is a noun rather than a pronoun in the sentence.)

I'm trying to figure out why I do this. Is there some sort of, I don't know, speculative verb tense?

Comments

Re: Subjunctive Mood

[adriang.livejournal.com]

I'm not absolutely sure, but I think mere uncertainty is not enough. In a sense, subjunctive mood implies that you think the situation in question is unlikely.

In your first example, I would assume from your use of subjunctive mood that you do not intend to go shopping, but that you are curious, anyway, about how I would react. In your second, I would guess that you are telling me that the need for an aide makes mainstreaming unlikely.

Does that make sense?

Adrian

Re: Subjunctive Mood

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I disagree. I think the hypothetical nature of those examples calls for the subjunctive.

"If I were to go shopping today, is there anything I could pick up for you?" is a hypothetical case - you haven't decided whether to go or not, you're just proposing that it might happen. The subjunctive mood is correct in that sentence.

"If he were to be mainstreamed next year, he would need an aide" is also hypothetical situation calling for the subjunctive. If the school proposes that he be mainstreamed at his next IEP, that moves the situation out of the hypothetical. So then the exchange might go,

"We'd like to mainstream him next year."
"If he is mainstreamed, he'll need an aide."

Re: Subjunctive Mood

[adriang.livejournal.com]

You may be right. I did some hunting on the web, and there seems to be only vague agreement on the proper use of subjunctive mood. Some assert that subjunctive implies significant doubt, but others think any hypothetical will do. I apparently learned about subjunctive mood from someone who thought substantial doubt was required, but I don't see anything close to general agreement around the internet on that point.

Adrian

Re: Subjunctive Mood

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

"If I were a rich man. . . ."

Re: Subjunctive Mood

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

I think this throws in something else that is confusing my sense of what is right.

"If he is mainstreamed"-- we don't know whether or not it will happen, or how likely it is to happen, but we are *certain* that if it does, an aide will be required.

"If I were a small furry creature from alpha centauri"-- I don't know my Douglas Adams well enough to be certain of what that would imply, or what would flow logically (given adequate knowledge of the right cultural referent), so I would be having to speak much more speculatively-- not only because I am not a small furry creature from alpha centauri, but because I don't know enough about their behavior or attributes to be able to use anything *other* than the subjunctive mood.

I'm feeling more confused, but believe it is possible that I might intuit enough proper grammar in American English to be able to speak and write in a way that is deemed acceptable by MLA, APA, Blue Book or Chicago, though perhaps not all of the above.