"I would be surprised..."

1i01b00I would be02b00 surprised if whatever 01b00is02b00 inside the boxes 01b00were/was02b00 not damaged.02i02br
02br
00as there's no much doubt that 01b00there is02b00 something inside 0-

0Suppose I am describing boxes of emergency supplies without parachutes strapped to them being dropped from aircrafts.02br
02br
00Peace,02br
02br
00I hope you don't mind me trying to correct your sentence.02br
00Aircraft is uncountable, as far as I know. Also, I think the correct preposition that goes with strapped is 'onto'.0-

0 01blockquote

01cite10Peaceblinkfriend12cite10I would be surprised if whatever were inside the boxes were not damaged.12blockquote

10 Sounds fine to me. 02br
00(The doubt is about the identity of the contents of the boxes (01i00whatever02i00), not about the existence of the contents.)02br

0CJ, I'm not quite sure I get your explanation. 02br
02br
00MH has a very good point but I remember you said a long time ago (probably a year) that in cases like this, native02br
00speakers tend to use the past tense throughout. I've been trying to apply that but02br
00I have to say, MH's view makes more sense and more natural to me.02br
00

0I was concentrating on the choice between were and was (subjunctive vs. indicative), and I neglected to address the choice between was/were and is (past vs. present).01blockquote

01cite10New2grammar12cite10Could you please 'defend' native speakers' tendency?12blockquote

10 You're referring to the use of past throughout once the mai

0I'll accept habit as the reason as long as this rule always applies. Thanks, CJ.0-

0New2grammar:02br
00Pls be aware that there's quite a range in terms of how people use were/was in this context. 02br
00The strictest use 01i00were02i00 01b00only02b00 in 01b00contrary-to-the-fact02b00 situations, not simply doubtful/hypothetical, if you know what I mean. 0-

0If I understand what you mean, you would agree with my examples below. I hope.02br
02br
00The speaker is talking as if he is/was a professional football player. Have you seen him on TV?02br
02br
00The speaker is talking as if he were a professional football player. He's just a high school football coach.0-

0 See:02br
01b00were/was02b02br
0500240hrefhttp://thegrammarexchange.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/340600179/m/5891020714?r=1241070714#1241070714

0I'm too tired to finish the whole thread. Maybe I'll continue reading later. Based on what I've read, a cuople of posts, it seems to agree with my understanding. If you notice, I used 'were' in my second example to imply counterfactual. It's known that the speaker is not a profesional football player but a high school football coach.Is my understanding correct?0-