Should it be in the subjunctive?

Question

Hi,Please help.1. Should the sentence below be in the subjunctive? I got the idea for this sentence while studying at the   edict.com.hk website. I would not ncecessary be sad, even if I was (were???) the poorest.2. Also, at the forementioned edict.com.hk website, I think I was looking at a table of content or a list of a sort and came upon these notes. What do they mean? How are the words difficult and confusing?Two difficult nouns  economy industryThree commonly confused nouns   possbility opportunity chance

Marius Hancu · Accepted Answer

I would not ncecessary be sad, even if I were the poorest. Especially if you're not that poor ...

BarbaraPA · Answer

I would not necessarily be sad, even if I were the poorest. (However, the "if I were" usage, especially in the U.S. is not being used much. It seems to be going the way of "this is she" and "whom." For a test, use it, but in conversation, don't worry about it, at least if you're talking to an American.)

2.

Look up economy and industry in the dictionary. They are not very similar, I don't think. If you have specific questions, let us know. (But start a new thread, okay?)

Possibility vs. chance: They are similiar in use if used as "There's a possibility that I'll be late" or "There's a chance I'll be late." It may happen, or it may not.

Opportunity vs. chance: Something that cirumcatances will permit you to do - On the trip to Washington, D.C., you'll have the opportunity/chance to see the baby panda bear.

Marius Hancu · Answer

Opportunity vs. chance

You may want to buy this dictionary:

Merriam Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms: A Dictionary of Discriminated Synonyms With Antonyms and Analogous and Contrasted Words

very good for such comparisons, which says:
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Chance applies chiefly to an opportunity that comes seemingly by luck or by accident. Sometimes the word means little more than a fair or a normal opportunity, especially in negative expressions.
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Also:
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synonyms OCCASION, CHANCE, BREAK, TIME:

opportunity indicates a combination of circumstances facilitating a certain action or inviting a certain decision <it was deemed advisable to continue the case ... in order that we might have an opportunity of giving to the whole subject a more deliberate consideration -- R.B.Taney> OCCASION is likely to convey the notion of the period or time at which an opportunity is offered; since this may be fleeting, OCCASION may suggest a combination of circumstances that are urgent and quite likely to evoke action or that have evolved in <afterward she can explain ... as occasion shall require -- F.W.Maitland> <so long as a child is with adults, it has no occasion for the exercise of a number of important virtues -- Bertrand Russell> CHANCE is close to OPPORTUNITY in this sense <the most challenging opportunity of all history -- the chance to help create a new society -- Wendell Willkie> It may suggest a situation arising accidentally <in war lay the greatest chance of his life -- H.L.Mencken> or a fair situation arising in an equitable allotment of things <only those who have a special cause to plead will hold that ... children of the poor [have] the same chances as those of the well-to-do -- John Dewey> BREAK, formerly a slang term and more common in the United States than in England, suggests a turn of luck or an opportunity offered by luck or by an act of kindliness from one with power or influence <not a single day of storm, not one day of flat calm, only a few days of variables did he experience. He had all the breaks -- S.E.Morison> <Communist promises of a better break for the common people -- A.E.Stevenson b. 1900> TIME may be used as a synonym for opportune time or occasion <an adversary of no common prowess was watching his time -- T.B.Macaulay>

(26 Sep. 2006).
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Should it be in the subjunctive?

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