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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Questions on mismatching plural and singular

I've noticed two common expressions that don't seem right.

1) "What should I do?"
"If I were you, I would..."
Why is the verb (were) plural if the pronoun (I) is singular? It seems to be only because of the "if"; if anyone said "I were" they would be laughed at, yet it's apparently grammatically correct to say "if I were."

2) "Come help."
"Aren't I here to relax?"
If you expand it to "are not I" and then change it into a sentence ("I are not") it's obviously incorrect. So why is it common to hear "aren't I"? Is "am I not" actually the correct form?

Thanks.
  

Top answer

Anonymous It seems to be only because of the "if" Yes. It's used with conditions. If I were ...

— CalifJim

  • Anonymous It seems to be only because of the "if" Yes.
  • It's used with conditions.
  • If I were ...
  • Supposing I were ...
  • In such constructions, was drops out of the conjugation, and all persons ( I, you, he, she, it, ...
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2 Answers
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AnonymousIt seems to be only because of the "if"
Yes. It's used with conditions. If I were ... Supposing I were ... In such constructions, was drops out of the conjugation, and all persons (I, you, he, she, it, ...) take were. It's called the past subjunctive.

Note that in very casual speech, you will also hear
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Anonymous2) "Come help."
"Aren't I here to relax?"
If you expand it to "are not I" and then change it into a sentence ("I are not") it's obviously incorrect. So why is it common to hear "aren't I"? Is "am I not" actually the correct form?
The reason is there is no logical short form for "Am I not". English is not mathematics.
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