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inezZZ
why beyonce use 'were' in her song? Not if i was a boy? Kinda confuse
Oct 14, 2010 5:11 AM
Answers · 5
5
Good question, and Beyonce is grammatically correct! (Unlike Gwen Stefani's "If I Was a Rich Girl", which is sloppy grammar.)
Although "were" is a plural of "was", it also is used for unreal, imagined or hypothetical situations in the past. That is, things that never happened.
For example, the correct form is "I wish I were taller." If you write "...I was taller...", that means it actually happened and you had become shorter since.
And for Beyonce, if she had sung "If I was a boy", that means that she actually was a boy in the past. Using "if" in the sentence just adds to the confusion. "If I were a boy" means she isn't a boy, never was a boy, and she can only imagine the situation.
October 14, 2010
2
In "if" clauses, the "was" changes to "were". That's a rule in English grammar. In spoken English we often say "was".
October 14, 2010
thankyou.. I know now :D
October 14, 2010
It's unreal conditional, see here http://www.eslpartyland.com/teachers/grammar/unreal_conditionals_handout.htm
October 14, 2010
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inezZZ
Language Skills
English, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese
Learning Language
Italian, Japanese
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