If you are or were
Hi,
“I'm asking because I was wondering that if you're free tomorrow, we could meet again.”
I came across this sentence in a TV series. Shouldn’t it be ‘if you were free’?
Thank you.
Top answer
There is not enough of the unreal there to trigger the subjunctive these days. Even if there were, I think it would be "if you be free tomorrow", and we never use the subjunctive that way any more. That said, I would not be surprised to hear "If you were free", and it would not sound very odd, certainly not as odd as "that" does in your sentence.
- There is not enough of the unreal there to trigger the subjunctive these days.
- Even if there were, I think it would be "if you be free tomorrow", and we never use the subjunctive that way any more.
- That said, I would not be surprised to hear "If you were free", and it would not sound very odd, certainly not as odd as "that" does in your sentence.
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There is not enough of the unreal there to trigger the subjunctive these days. Even if there were, I think it would be "if you be free tomorrow", and we never use the subjunctive that way any more. That said, I would not be surprised to hear "If you were free", and it would not sound very odd, certainly not as odd as "that" does in your sentence.
0Ann225I came across this sentence in a TV series. Shouldn’t it be ‘if you were free’?
"you're" is OK in itself, but the overall structure "I was wondering that if ..." is faulty (to my eye, at least)
0Ann225I came across this sentence in a TV series.
Yes, well, that doesn't mean it's perfect English.
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