I hope it weren't broken

[Yourjones]

Hello,

Mike said his phone had dropped in his toilet. I said, "I hope it weren't broken." Questions are two:

1. Do I need to use "wish" to replace "hope"?
2. I remember I could use "weren't" here as the sentence is in the subjunctive mood, but why did Mike, a native speaker, insist I must use "wasn't"?

Thanks.

 

[emsr2d2]

You can't follow "it" with "weren't". What is the negative past simple tense of "it is"?

 

[Yourjones]

In subjunctive mood, the matches should be:
I were
you were
he/she/it was?

 

[emsr2d2]

We don't use the subjunctive after "hope" (or "want").

Mike dropped his phone in the toilet. I said "I hope it isn't broken". (Direct speech)
Mike dropped his phone in the toilet. I said that I hoped it wasn't broken. (Reported speech)

 

[Matthew Wai]

in the subjunctive mood

Is the following in the subjunctive mood?
'I wish it had not been broken.' (It was already broken.)
Not a teacher.

... why did Mike, a native speaker, insist I must use "wasn't"

Do you mean MikeNewYork? He said the opposite to me.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hello,

Mike said his phone had dropped in his toilet. I said, "I hope it wasn't broken."

There are two questions:

1. Do I need to use "wish" to replace "hope"?

No. You don't know yet whether it was broken, right? So you can say:

- "I hope it isn't broken."
- "I hope it's not broken."
- "I hope it wasn't broken."

All those are correct. The word hope is the right word, because you don't know yet whether it's broken. The word weren't is the wrong word because he only dropped on phone in the toilet.

Now suppose Mike had told you he dropped it in the toilet AND said it was broken. Then you would say:

- "I wish it weren't broken."

Now wish would be right, because you already know that it's broken. And weren't would be right, because that's what we use to describe an imaginary situation. For example, we say "If I were you...." or "If you were the president...." I'm not you, and you're not the president. They're imaginary situations.

2. I remember I could use "weren't" here, as the sentence is in the subjunctive mood, but why did Mike, a native speaker, insist I must use "wasn't"?

Because there was only one phone. It's singular. If Mike had dropped six phones in the toilet, you would say: "I hope they weren't broken."

Thanks.

You're welcome!

 

[MikeNewYork]

If you two are going to discuss what I said to each of you, I would appreciate a link. We often use the subjunctive after "wish"; we don't use it after "hope".

 

[Matthew Wai]

I would appreciate a link.

The link is https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/...me-during-my?p=1147532&viewfull=1#post1147532

 

[Yourjones]

Thanks Charlie! I was mistaken because I remember in the subjunctive mood we should say "it were" just like "I were" where both subjects are single pronoun. Thanks again.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Thanks, Matthew. Your statement was accurate.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yourjones, do you have a link to where I told you that you must use "wasn't".

 

[Matthew Wai]

I was mistaken because I remember in the subjunctive mood we should say "it were" just like "I were" where both subjects are single pronoun. Thanks again.

I think you were not mistaken, because 'were' can be used as the past subjunctive whether the subject is singular or plural.

Not a teacher.

 

[Yourjones]

Hi Mike,

Sorry if this has offended you, but apparently that "Mike" in my orignal post is not you. That is another Mike I know. I can try to modify the post with other names like Tom or Jim.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I was not offended. I just wanted a clarification. All of my life, there has been confusion about "Mikes" because it is such a common name. There were 4 Mikes in my elementary school class. For that reason I started going by my surname. No harm done.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

If you two are going to discuss what I said to each of you, I would appreciate a link. We often use the subjunctive after "wish"; we don't use it after "hope".

I was thinking there was another Mike - the one who dropped his phone in the toilet.

(Unless that was you!)

 

[MikeNewYork]

Never did that. :shock: