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janice
were/was? why is it?
"If i were you"-------> why "were" is used in this phrase instead of "was"?
2011년 7월 24일 오전 8:59
답변 · 5
1
The conditional ("if") form of "to be" is "were".
"If I/he/she/it/you/they were..."
"I was...", "He/she/it was...", "You/They/We were..."
Note: If you say "I was...", I don't know of any native English speaker that would notice. Many of them say "If I was..." It is a very common mistake - common to the point where the only place you should really worry about it is on an English paper.
2011년 7월 24일
Was is singular and applies to one person.
Were is plural and applies to more than one person. (except in singular "you were")
For Example:
1. I was fit, but you three were not fit.
2. I was there yesterday.
3. If I were rich then I would quit my working occupation and travel all over the world
2011년 7월 24일
It's a remnant of a now defunct subjunctive form. Treat it as an exception. There aren't many of these.
2011년 7월 24일
when imagination is not related to reality then we used were after i....
eg: if i were a bird......
note that, its an impossible imagination....thats why here used were instead of was.
2011년 7월 24일
This is Subjunctive in English...and that's the form and structure of this kind of sentence,"If I/She/He/You were.....,...would/could/might"or"Were I/He/She/You...,...could/would/might"and some other kinds.
Well...I just recognize that some native speakers use"was"instead of "were"..I don't know whether it's right or not,but you better use the word"were"..you can find many usage of "was"in American movies
2011년 7월 24일
아직도 답을 찾지 못하셨나요?
질문을 남겨보세요. 원어민이 도움을 줄 수 있을 거예요!
janice
언어 구사 능력
중국어(북경어), 중국어(광동어), 영어, 한국어, 말레이어
학습 언어
중국어(광동어), 영어, 한국어
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