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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007If I was you or If I were you
Dear People : Do some of you think/believe that "If I was you" (emphasis "was") is also grammatically correct? I had a sort of argument with a forum member regarding this grammatically intriguing topic. Would love to hear your opinions on this - if possible with some "proof." Regards, Ronan } Dear People : } } Do some of you think/believe that "If I was you" (emphasis "was") is } also grammatically correct? I had a sort of argument with a forum } member regarding this grammatically intriguing topic. Would love to } hear your opinions on this - if possible with some "proof." Some of us think it's correct enough. Others of us think it doesn't quite capture the contrary-to-fact syntax, if that's what you are shooting for. Others think it's perfectly grammatically correct for a not entirely convinced reincarnation of someone to muse in front of a picture of a former self. There's no proof; there's just authority. And your ESL teacher is all the authority you ought to worry about for the time being.  Signaturerjv Thank you for the prompt reply. I'm not taking any ESL course/class , but one American guy raised this question in a forum and my reply was that both forms("was" and "were") are correct - atleast that's what I've learnt in British English grammer books etc. > } Dear People : > } [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > former self. There's no proof; there's just authority. And your ESL > teacher is all the authority you ought to worry about for the time being. [posts rearranged in customary order] >>} Dear People : >>} [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > that both forms("was" and "were") are correct - atleast that's what > I've learnt in British English grammer books etc. You also seem to think that "grammer" is correct. As for your question on the was/were thing -- the answer depends on what is meant. Use of "was" refers to an actual existence of a condition, while "were" assumes that the condition doesn't exist. For the exact phrase you present, with no other context, logic precludes the use of "was", as the condition of one person actually being another is impossible. I hope I expressed that for AmE reasonably well. If not, someone else will surely do a better job of it. SignatureSkitt (in Hayward, California) http://www.geocities.com/opus731/ Blame it on my fast typing skills ;) > [posts rearranged in customary order] > [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > Skitt (in Hayward, California) > http://www.geocities.com/opus731/ > Do some of you think/believe that "If I was you" (emphasis "was") is > also grammatically correct? I had a sort of argument with a forum > member regarding this grammatically intriguing topic. Would love to > hear your opinions on this - if possible with some "proof." "Were" - in more formal contexts. "Was" - in informal ones. Marius Hancu >>Do some of you think/believe that "If I was you" (emphasis "was") is >>also grammatically correct? I had a sort of argument with a forum [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > "Were" - in more formal contexts. > "Was" - in informal ones. Dat's "wuz." "If'n I wuz yooz, I'd do tings dis way, got it?" --Jeff SignatureAll men of conscience or prudence ply to windward, to maintain their wars to be defensive. -Roger Williams You may want to have a look at: http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/061.html Marius Hancu Thank you. Even : http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_questionan swer/page42.shtml sheds some light on this. > You may want to have a look at: > http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/061.html > > Marius Hancu What y'all have to say about this then : http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000031.htm > Thank you. Even : > http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_questionan swer/page42.shtml [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > > > Marius Hancu > What y'all have to say about this then : > > http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000031.htm "If I were you..." and similar constructions are still widely used by standard speakers in American English. An educated speaker who might say "Who did you see?" and "It's me" would still say "If I were you, I wouldn't do that." The subjunctive is not as strong in British English. I don't know how "If I was you..." versus "If I were you..." is regarded, but one of the examples given on the page to which you show a link, "His requirement is that everyone is computer literate," would, according to what I have read, be quite acceptable to many speakers of Standard British English, while it would be a rare speaker of Standard American English who would use it. -- Raymond S. Wise Minneapolis, Minnesota USA E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com >> What y'all have to say about this then : >> [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > say "Who did you see?" and "It's me" would still say "If I were you, I > wouldn't do that." Also true in BrE. > The subjunctive is not as strong in British English. I don't know how > "If I was you..." versus "If I were you..." is regarded, but one of the [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > while it would be a rare speaker of Standard American English who would > use it. I would say "acceptable" rather than "quite acceptable". I would agree, however, that it comes in the category of things which we know are not strictly correct, but still use as being acceptable in informal spoken English - very much as "who did you see?" and "it's me", in fact. Regards Jonathan > >> What y'all have to say about this then : > >> [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > Jonathan A use of the indicative where most Americans, including speakers of nonstandard dialects, would use the subjunctive recently was used on an edition of BBC News from BBC World: "These are the headlines.... Violence in Bangladesh as protesters demand the elections are postponed." I say "most Americans," but I was tempted to say "all Americans," because I would be very surprised indeed to hear a native speaker of American English use "are" in such a sentence. -- Raymond S. Wise Minneapolis, Minnesota USA E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com > A use of the indicative where most Americans, including speakers of > nonstandard dialects, would use the subjunctive recently was used on an [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > because I would be very surprised indeed to hear a native speaker of > American English use "are" in such a sentence. Agreed. It's a veritable shibboleth. SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. > Dear People : > > Do some of you think/believe that "If I was you" (emphasis > "was") is also grammatically correct? It all depends on what it's supposed to mean. If it's a contrary to fact statement, which it most certainly has to be, except in the movie starring John Travolta & Nicolas Cage, the one in which they trade faces and identities for a few months. > I had a sort of argument with a forum member regarding this > grammatically intriguing topic. Would love to hear your > opinions on this - if possible with some "proof." Would that it were intriguing, but it's far too old hat to be interesting to anyone who knows anything about it. The lines have been drawn and anyone on the other side is an pigheaded jerk. Don't waste your time. If you want to sound intelligent and educated, you always say "If I were you, old boy, I shoot myself". If you want to sound as faux as phony can be, say "If I was you, scuzz-bucket-pie-eater, I would wanna take my head outta my a.s right about now 'cuz it stinks in dere". SignatureFranke: EFL teacher & medical editor Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan. Unmunged email: /at/easypeasy.com "as long as the human population is 90% gullible, violence-prone dipshits, the last thing you want to do is increase the supply of unclaimed religious real estate"[i.e., the moon]. Scott Adams, The Dilbert Blog, December 06, 2006 http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/ > Dear People : > > Do some of you think/believe that "If I was you" (emphasis "was") is > also grammatically correct? I had a sort of argument with a forum > member regarding this grammatically intriguing topic. Would love to > hear your opinions on this - if possible with some "proof." If I were you, I'd stick to "if I were you", unless you're making a point about your plebeian social background. To my (Australian) ear, it sounds wrong for someone to say "if I was you". TOF |
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