Subjunctive mood/Descriptive & prescriptive grammar.

[anasiants]

Hi,

"If I was supergirl, I would have slapped your hands long time ago for behaving badly." - is this right or wrong grammatically?

How would you reword the above sentence in quotes? and what's wrong with it?
SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD?

kindest - ana

[Tdol]

If you want to use the subjunctive, change 'was' to 'were'. Some presriptivists would argue that it's wrong because we should use the subjunctive in such sentences, but descriptively, it's what a large proportion of native speakers use.

[anasiants]

If you want to use the subjunctive, change 'was' to 'were'. Some presriptivists would argue that it's wrong because we should use the subjunctive in such sentences, but descriptively, it's what a large proportion of native speakers use.

Hello Mr., Mrs. or Miss tdol,

Thank you very much for saving my life.
Please take care of yourself.

Kindest regards, Ana

[MrPedantic]

Hi,

"If I was supergirl, I would have slapped your hands long time ago for behaving badly." - is this right or wrong grammatically?

How would you reword the above sentence in quotes? and what's wrong with it?
SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD?

kindest - ana

As a supplement:

1. The sentence needs rewording slightly, even with "was":

"If I was Supergirl, I would have slapped your hands a long time ago for behaving (so) badly."

2. Not every case of "was" in an IF-clause can be changed to "were" – only those that relate to an "unreal" hypothesis. For instance:

You are in a supermarket with a friend. You see a man buying cigarettes and leaving the supermarket. You say to your friend:

"That looks like the man the police want to interview, in connection with the missing subjunctive."

Your friend says:

"Yes, I remember now. I saw his picture on the 10 o'clock news. What shall we do?"

And you say:

"Well, if that was the man on the 10 o'clock news, we'd better inform the police."

In this case, the conditional sentence doesn't relate to an unreal hypothesis: you are assuming he was the man. So you can't change "was" to "were".

MrP

[reklov]

What about the "already too late structure?" - so to me it's third conditional.

I'd say: If I had been supergirl, I would have slappend your hands...

But I'm not a native, I've only learned it that way.

[JJM Ballantyne]

Well, my honest advice would be not to trouble yourself over "was/were." You have the choice of using either one.

The use of the subjunctive "If I/he/she/it were" has been losing ground for some time in English with "was" now accepted and routinely used without a murmur (except from the occasional pedant).

[Northstar]

If I were Supergirl refers to a present hypothetical state, If I had been Supergirl refers to a past experience. " If I had been Supergirl at that very moment, I would have..."

[MrPedantic]

1. "If I were Supergirl, I would have slapped your hands long ago."

Yes; it's a "mixed conditional" (type 2+3); but "if I were Supergirl" now, we can be pretty certain that I would have been Supergirl then as well.

To amend the well-known bon mot:

2. "If I were your wife, I'd have given you poison long ago." "If I were your husband, I would have drunk it."

Though I'm not sure why the speaker needs to be Supergirl, to slap his hands.

MrP

[anasiants]

1. "If I were Supergirl, I would have slapped your hands long ago."

Yes; it's a "mixed conditional" (type 2+3); but "if I were Supergirl" now, we can be pretty certain that I would have been Supergirl then as well.

To amend the well-known bon mot:

2. "If I were your wife, I'd have given you poison long ago." "If I were your husband, I would have drunk it."

Though I'm not sure why the speaker needs to be Supergirl, to slap his hands.

MrP

Hello,
Sorry for the late reply.
I was just being silly that's why i chose supergirl.
Wow - i thank all of you. Thanks for all the replies! now, i have to add all of these on my notes :)

I like this part, i think it was really funny :)

"If I were your wife, I'd have given you poison long ago." "If I were your husband, I would have drunk it."

Kindest - ana
Please take care and don't get sick and tired of me. :)