Was versus were

Either. Do you wish to say that not one passenger was hurt, or do you wish to say that all of the passengers were unhurt?

"None" can be either singular or plural, depending on context.

None of my classmates were alive after the earthquake. (I am the only member of my school class to survive the earthquake.)

None of the boys was brave enough to climb the tree. (Not one of the boys was brave enough to climb the tree.)

Old grammar books may tell you that "none" is singular, but the Oxford English Dictionary says that, when acting as a pronoun, the denotation of "No people" is "Now the commoner usage, the singular being expressed by no one."

Ooh, I'm interested in this thread. I never know when to use "was" and when to use "were."

I hope this doesn't derail the thread too much, but...

"If I 'were' a rich man." Could it also be "If I 'was' a rich man?" Does it matter?

The "was" vs. "were" deal is one of the most confusing things for me in the english language.

actually the difference is vital in political debates, contrex is right that you can use "was" in general, but if you're going to criticize american policy, it's important to use "were" or your argument will fail.

needless to say it's great to see this thread.

No, it cannot be "if I was a rich man". It matters in proper writing and if you are taking tests or exams. In informal speech and the writing of ignorant people it is often ignored.

Before, we were using the simple past tense. "None of the passengers was hurt", for example.

However, the phrase "if I were a rich man" uses the past subjunctive. We use the subjunctive to refer to past situations which might (or could) have happened.

The past subjunctive is identical with the past tense except in the case of the verb be, which uses were for all persons: If I were rich …, If he were rich …, If they were rich….

The past subjunctive is sometimes called the were subjunctive, since were is the only subjunctive form that is distinct from the indicative past tense. It appears chiefly in if clauses and in a few other constructions expressing hypothetical conditions:

If he were sorry, he'd have apologized by now.

I wish she weren't going away.

She's already acting as if she were going to be promoted.

Suppose she were to resign, what would you do then?

I'm afraid, Contrex, and I say this with no rancor, that the ignorance here is yours.



The subjunctive form 'were' is NOT used "to refer to past situations which might (or could) have happened". This form, as in your example, "if I were a rich man" refers to, in this case, a timeless situation which is the counterfactual of "I am not a rich man".

The form using 'was' as in, "if I was a rich man" is identical to the subjunctive 'were' form in every way with the exception of formality.

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http://www.able2know.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=43642&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=10

Sorry JTT, but the ignorance is mostly yours. Your copy and paste job is mostly opinionated American English blog stuff.

"mostly". At least you're starting to come around, Contrex.

The "blog" was not a blog. It was another A2K thread on the same issue.


The opinion,

"No, it cannot be "if I was a rich man". It matters in proper writing and if you are taking tests or exams. In informal speech and the writing of ignorant people it is often ignored.".

came from you, Contrex. Why would you believe such a thing?