Bruce Springsteen
- Thread starter cartouche
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- Apr 12, 2008
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- Retired English Teacher
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- British English
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- England
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- Ireland
It means that it upsets him so much to see her with another man, that he wishes he were blind and unable to see that.
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2008
- Member Type
- Retired English Teacher
- Native Language
- British English
- Home Country
- England
- Current Location
- Ireland
"I wish I were..." is correct.
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- Jul 28, 2009
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- English Teacher
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- British English
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- UK
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- UK
Oh, the delights of the subjunctive!
I wish I were...
If only I were...
If I were...
You will certainly hear "If I was..." etc in BrE very regularly and no-one will have the slightest idea that it's technically wrong. In fact, if you mention the subjunctive to most native BrE speakers, they will give you a blank stare and run away. We don't learn grammar (or at least we don't learn the terminology) unless we start learning a foreign language.
I wish I were...
If only I were...
If I were...
You will certainly hear "If I was..." etc in BrE very regularly and no-one will have the slightest idea that it's technically wrong. In fact, if you mention the subjunctive to most native BrE speakers, they will give you a blank stare and run away. We don't learn grammar (or at least we don't learn the terminology) unless we start learning a foreign language.
TheParser
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********** NOT A TEACHER **********
Hello, Cartouche.
(1) I respectfully suggest that you use If I / he/ she / it were
whenever you speak about something that is not true:
If I were handsome (I'm not), I would have many girlfriends.
If Tom were a teacher (He's actually a mechanic), he would be very popular because he is very patient and kind.
If today were Sunday (It's actually Tuesday), I would go to church.
*****
(2) I respectfully suggest that you use If I/ he/ she/ it was
whenever you are talking about something that possibly happened in
the past.
Joe: Why are you angry with me?
Martha: Because you were rude to me yesterday.
Joe: Really? Well, if I was rude to you yesterday (it is possible
because sometimes I am rude to people without knowing it), I wish to
apologize today.
**********
Mona: Was Ralph at yesterday's party?
Tony: Yes, he was.
Mona: Well, if he was there, I certainly did not see him. (It is possible
that
Ralph attended the party, but there were so many people there that
Mona never saw him.)
Thank you
The answer like it is correct or not correct is not answer for me.
The same was when I studed in uni, If I did wrong the doctor said "forget about it". But why should I forget? I need to know the problem from inside to avoid making any mistakes in future.
TheParser, thank you for your answer and full explaination.
The same was when I studed in uni, If I did wrong the doctor said "forget about it". But why should I forget? I need to know the problem from inside to avoid making any mistakes in future.
TheParser, thank you for your answer and full explaination.
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