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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

it was you

I heard this in a movie.

"If it were you, I would have never given up."

This sentence is most probably correct, but my question is - can I replace the verb 'were' with 'was' in the above sentence?
  

Top answer

". In this contrary-to-fact situation, were (the subjunctive) is correct. I believe that most professional writers still use this form, but was seems to be gaining in popularity among the general population.

— Philip

  • ".
  • In this contrary-to-fact situation, were (the subjunctive) is correct.
  • I believe that most professional writers still use this form, but was seems to be gaining in popularity among the general population.
  • S.
  • - but I'm not sure what the situation is in British English.
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4 Answers
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The sentence is probably "If I were you....". In this contrary-to-fact situation, were (the subjunctive) is correct. I believe that most professional writers still use this form, but was seems to be gaining in popularity among the general population. This applies to the U.S. - but I'm not sure what the situation is in British English.
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The sentence was what I wrote. "If it were you...."

'was' may gain popularity, but is it grammatically correct?
We use sentences like "Hey, it's you.." all the time. Here we are not saying, "it are you." Then why say "if it were you...?"
Can you please explain?
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AnonymousThen why say "if it were you...?
Because—as Philip as already told you—it is a subjunctive verb form:

If I were
if you were
if he were
if we were
if you all were
if they were
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PhilipI'm not sure what the situation is in British English.
Subjunctive were is disappearing in BrE, but many still use it in if I were you, which can be regarded as almost a fixed phrase -
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