Grammar Nazi

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Haunted

This is my favorite place
Mar 26, 2008
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The woods are lovely dark and deep
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Rrty

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2007
1,394
4,588
This is a cool thread. I didn't read all the way through it, so if this has been asked before, sorry.

What defines the proper use of "if I were" and "if I was?" I always assumed "if I were" refers to something hypothetical, and "if I was" refers to something that could have been true. But I've seen instances where that doesn't seem to be the case. Any advice would be great.
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
I've found this at TheFreeDictionary.com (
which is correct ? was vs. were. - English Grammar - English - The Free Dictionary Language Forums
)
I feel silly even for asking this, but the issue has bothered me for years, and to this point, I've found no direct answer yet. I once wrote a similar sentence as what matches the second example, in a college paper, and my professor did not attempt to correct it.

So please, if you know why, and for what reasons, explain to me which answer of the following two sentences is correct.

1. "If I was smart, I would go to graduate school."

2. "If I were smart, I would go to graduate school."

For some reason, in my head, both sound somewhat acceptable. I know that 'were' sounds like it should go with 'you' as far as matching up pronouns and their proper verb forms with the past tense of 'to be.' But even though I feel like 'was' is more appropriate, 'were' still doesn't sound wrong to me, in these examples.

What do you think ?

[Answer] take a read: Orange Crate Art: If I were, if I was