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Vdb Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

if

Hi! Please help me out a bit by saying which of the following sentences would be correct. It's so confusing Emotion: sad

a) If I were him, I wouldn't do that.
b) If I were he, I wouldn't do that.
c) If it were him, he wouldn't do that.
d) If it were he, he wouldn't do that.
e) If it were me, I wouldn't do that.
f) If it were I, I wouldn't do that.

A big thank you in advance! Emotion: smile
  

Top answer

I use ( a) and ( e). All are correct by formal rules of grammar, but, since these sentiments are for use in conversations, the formal constructions seem outlandish. ( c) and ( d) are improbable.

— AlpheccaStars

  • I use ( a) and ( e).
  • All are correct by formal rules of grammar, but, since these sentiments are for use in conversations, the formal constructions seem outlandish.
  • ( c) and ( d) are improbable.
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7 Answers
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I use ( a) and ( e).

All are correct by formal rules of grammar, but, since these sentiments are for use in conversations, the formal constructions seem outlandish. ( c) and ( d) are improbable.
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What if I was giving a test on English? Or writing a short story, maybe? Should I use the formal constructions then, or the informal ones? Thank you!

And can you elaborate why c) and d) would be improbable?
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Please, someone answer this question!
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Please don't become so impatient only an hour after posting, especially on a day like New Year's Eve when the volunteers here may have other things to do!

If you were the one giving the test, I would hope you would expect natural answers from your students, not unlikely, unnatural things that native speakers would not use.

If you were writing a short story, why would you want
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vdbWhat if I was giving a test on English?
If you give an English test, please don't put weird stuff on it. That just confuses the students.
vdbOr writing a short story, maybe?
Maybe. The character "Yoda" spoke with a grammar created specifically for an "ancient wisdom" effect.
But don't try to invent such grammars unles
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OK, so let me write it all down once..

"If I were him" and "If it were me/I" are correct according to contemporary English, right?
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These are the most common:
eg.

1. At the zoo:
If I were you, I wouldn't put my hand through the bars to pet that tiger.
"you" is far more common that other pronouns.
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