Past subjunctive: were

Article excerpt · target grammar marked

The difference between if I was wrong and if I were wrong is a difference in epistemic stance. Were English to retain a fully inflected subjunctive, its speakers might offload onto grammar the signalling work they currently do with adverbs and hedges.

Grammar Reference · Past subjunctive: were

Hypothetical: if I

If I were fluent in Mandarin, my thinking might differ. — unreal or unlikely condition

Concessive: as if /

She spoke as if grammar were a trivial concern. — concessive or comparative unreal

Formulaic: were it

Were it not for the subjunctive, English would lose this distinction. — formal inversion

Common error

If he was wrong... ✗ → If he were wrong... ✓ — never was in unreal conditionals

01Exercise 1 — Form · Write the Correct Form

Past subjunctive: were

1.If English a full subjunctive, speakers would rely less on adverbs.

2. it not for language contact, inflection might have survived intact.

3.The researcher spoke as if the counterfactual self-evidently true.

4.If she a native Spanish speaker, she would process counterfactuals faster.

5. this finding to hold, it would reshape the linguistic relativity debate.

6.He argued as though the indicative and subjunctive completely interchangeable.

02Exercise 2 — Transform

rewrite with the new structure

1.If he doesn't understand the subjunctive, he misses the epistemic signal.

2.Because the inflection is absent, English speakers outsource certainty to adverbs.

3.She spoke about grammar as if it was a trivial matter.

4.If it's not for Bybee's research, this processing difference would be unknown.

03Exercise 3 — About You

in your notebook

Personalise: complete five sentences about yourself using the target grammar.

Past subjunctive: were01EnglishPlans.com