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Cp2gd Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
If it Was/Were
Hello,
I came across the following sentence on BBC's website:
"But in general, driverless public transport is believed to be around 30% more reliable than if it was being driven by a human."
I have recently seen this structure several times and it made me condused because I thought the correct way should be ".....than if it were being..."
As far as I have elaborated on this point, "were" used in this situation would correspond to a kind of subjunctive in English, like in the sentence "If I were young I would travel around the world".
Is it possible possible to use "were" in the sentence quoted from BBC website and if so would it change the meaning?
Please advise on this matter.
Thanks a lot.
Rui.
I came across the following sentence on BBC's website:
"But in general, driverless public transport is believed to be around 30% more reliable than if it was being driven by a human."
I have recently seen this structure several times and it made me condused because I thought the correct way should be ".....than if it were being..."
As far as I have elaborated on this point, "were" used in this situation would correspond to a kind of subjunctive in English, like in the sentence "If I were young I would travel around the world".
Is it possible possible to use "were" in the sentence quoted from BBC website and if so would it change the meaning?
Please advise on this matter.
Thanks a lot.
Rui.
Top answer
Hello, In modern English both variants "was/were" are correct in if-clauses of the second conditionals. "If I was/were young I would travel around the world". - both right
- Hello, In modern English both variants "was/were" are correct in if-clauses of the second conditionals.
- "If I was/were young I would travel around the world".
- - both right
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5 Answers
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Hello,
In modern English both variants "was/were" are correct in if-clauses of the second conditionals.
"If I was/were young I would travel around the world". - both right
In modern English both variants "was/were" are correct in if-clauses of the second conditionals.
"If I was/were young I would travel around the world". - both right
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Is it possible possible to use "were" in the sentence quoted from BBC website and if so would it change the meaning?
Yes, it's possible, and it means the same thing either way. It seems to me that Americans are more insistent on the use of 'were' in those constructions.
CJ
Yes, it's possible, and it means the same thing either way. It seems to me that Americans are more insistent on the use of 'were' in those constructions.
CJ
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canadian45My delete function, (ABC), never works. Why is that?My understanding is that something got screwed up in the last upgrade (or two) of the system because it used to work. Now you have to use two hyphens in a row both before and after the character string you want to strike out, thus:
(That's not the same
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