|
 |
Subjunctive "If I were you" | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| 98789 Diglot Groupie Colombia Joined 5044 days ago 48 posts - 55 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, English | Message 1 of 39 17 July 2012 at 6:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Good morning,
I have to recognize that I never studied grammar properly and that most of the time when I write in English I use the "logic". Perhaps, one of the few things I remember of highschool English classes is that thing, the subjunctive, mainly the form: "If I were you". A few months ago, I was talking with an Indian Spanish learner (I'm a native Spanish speaker) and we suddenly switched to English. We were talking about him and I wrote something like "If I were you ...". He said me I was wrong. He told me I always had to use "was", that "I" never goes with "were". That confused me, as far as I knew "If I were" is right, so... how is it ? Also, I once read (that) you can omit the "that"... but, my English teacher always corrected me about it, so... how is it ? (is there any website with those English grammar particularities summarized and well-explained ?) Thanks, 98789 Edited by 98789 on 17 July 2012 at 6:34pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4679 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 2 of 39 17 July 2012 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
I'm sure google would give you plenty of forums that already answered this question, but here it is: the guy you talked to was wrong, and you should indeed say "if I were".
2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5533 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 39 17 July 2012 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
There are actually two different things which people sometimes call the "subjunctive" in English: 1. "I demand that he be ready on time." 2. "If I were you, I'd stop goofing off and get ready." In form (1), we use "be" where we would normally use "is". This works almost exactly like the subjunctive in French, except it's used very rarely. Form (2) is a bit trickier. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language argues that this isn't really the subjunctive at all, but an irrealis mood which (IIRC) only exists for the verb "to be". Form (1) is rare, and form (2) is generally optional. Native speakers say things like "If I was…" all the time.
In a sentence like "The cookies that you baked were delicious," the "that" is optional. Edited by emk on 17 July 2012 at 7:38pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4666 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 4 of 39 17 July 2012 at 7:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
If I were you I'd keep using the subjunctive. You were right and he was wrong. The subjunctive has yet to completely vanish from the English language and I, for one,am happy to take every opportunity to support it :-) 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7157 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 5 of 39 17 July 2012 at 11:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
See here for more discussion among us at HTLAL. I use "if I were...", so you can stick to what you learned. Your friend is wrong by saying that one always uses "if I was". A more accurate statement would have been that your Indian friend is the one who always uses "If I was...". "That" as a relative pronoun is optional but I tend to use it more than other native speakers probably because of the influence of having studied languages where the relative pronoun is mandatory. See here for some detail. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| mikonai Diglot Senior Member United States weirdnamewriting.bloRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4930 days ago 178 posts - 281 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Swahili, German | Message 6 of 39 18 July 2012 at 12:40am | IP Logged | |||||
|
My college English professor explained the English subjunctive this way:
You use "were" (ie, the subjunctive) only when you're expressing something that cannot happen. To say "If I were you..." expresses something that can never happen. I can't be you. I also say "if I were a car..." because I can't be a car. Neither of them are physically possible. But I have to say "if I was to eat a hamburger for dinner," not "if I were to eat a hamburger for dinner." Why? Because I technically could run out and get myself a burger. It's possible. I doubt I'm going to do it, but I could, so I don't use the subjunctive. The subjunctive is rare in English, and native speakers don't really notice when they're using it, and maybe because of that it's falling out of usage. I can't quite decide if it's a travesty or not. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7157 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 7 of 39 18 July 2012 at 12:55am | IP Logged | |||||
|
That's interesting. The subjunctive in English among other things covers events that not only are physically impossible (e.g. "if I were a car...") but ones that would be hypothetical in the user's mind (or tacitly desired by the user) (e.g. "if I were rich..."). The latter would be construed as being contrary to fact but this doesn't indicate physical impossibility. (Cf. The English subjunctive: scholarly opinions)
2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| mikonai Diglot Senior Member United States weirdnamewriting.bloRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4930 days ago 178 posts - 281 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Swahili, German | Message 8 of 39 18 July 2012 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
That's a handy link! It's certainly possible that I and my professor are wrong. It may very well be contrary to fact, or else extreme doubt or impracticality. Or maybe I'm just making stuff up again. Don't mind me! 2 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
