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Grammar pedants - help please.

1 lurker | 97 watchers

macca 53 Jun 2024 11:23am, 8 Jun 2024 32,514 posts	0 macca 53 😁😁👏👏
LindsD Jun 2024 11:56am, 8 Jun 2024 68,370 posts	0 LindsD
Muttley Jun 2024 1:45pm, 27 Jun 2024 3,322 posts	0 Muttley "Doctor, I think I've got subjunctivitis" "You mean conjunctivitis?" "Would that it were, doctor, would that it were."
Northern Exile Jun 2024 1:48pm, 27 Jun 2024 10,379 posts	0 Northern Exile 😊
LindsD Jun 2024 4:43pm, 27 Jun 2024 68,692 posts	0 LindsD
sallykate Jun 2024 4:44pm, 27 Jun 2024 14,349 posts	0 sallykate He wasn't in the right mood...
LindsD Jun 2024 4:46pm, 27 Jun 2024 68,694 posts	0 LindsD
JamieKai chameleon Jun 2024 7:42pm, 27 Jun 2024 18,834 posts	0 JamieKai chameleon Don't judge me too harshly, but sometimes I will pop a certain song on Spotify on my way into the office to head off a grumpy mood. That song is called "If I Were An Otter", sung by a lady I can only assume is a massive hippy. Anyway. I got to thinking this morning, should it not be "If I was an otter"? (Other than artistic licence, etc) Full lyric is "If I were an otter, I'd be a river otter, swimming in the indigo creek". Of course
ChrisHB Jun 2024 8:34pm, 27 Jun 2024 23,120 posts	0 ChrisHB To me, "if I was" grates. "Were" is a rare use of the subjunctive. It expresses an impossibility. Perhaps you say "If I were you". Or perhaps you skirt round it by saying "In your place". You can have "If I was going to London when you saw me, it must have been on Tuesday." There's no impossibility there.
Pothunter Jun 2024 10:38pm, 27 Jun 2024 9,028 posts	0 Pothunter Or “If I were a rich man”