11-Sep-2006, 04:58
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| Senior Member | | Join Date: May 2006 Country: Belarus
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 Re: variation of conditionals.
Oh no, not snake and pygmy pie again! (A cannibal to his wife chopping a cobra and a small native) Dear Philly I don’t feel like debating about AmE vs BrE. Neither is worse or better than the other. I’ve seen so many fierce squabbles in forums. It’s just a waste of time. Sometimes I wish there were Academie Anglaise. I love all kinds of English. As to using If I was / If I were in the Subjunctive, I read in a grammar book the former is either colloquial or AmE. “Occasionally the form was canbefound in the sigular.I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t certain. (Dickens)” I haven’t got down to BNC yet. Google: If I was-25.4 million, If I were -31.2 million. Even if we left out the non-subjunctive If I was, the difference wouldn’t be great. But I prefer to keep to the basics.  Regards |