Luke Taylor  Grammar Grater®  with Luke Taylor  Episode 48:
Subjunctivitis  This week, on Grammar Grater, we're going
explore the confusion surrounding the use of the subjunctive
mood in English. A listener from Wisconsin wrote to us recently
and asked: I know "If I were you ..." is right — but why
shouldn't it be "If I was you..."? Why use the plural "were"
with the singular "I"? This is a great question with an
interesting answer. The listener points out that "were" is
plural, and that's correct — if we were talking about regular
second or third-person plural past tense, but we're not. In the
case of "If I were you," the verb "to be" is actually in the
subjunctive mood.  Moods — as they relate to verbs — indicate a
state of being or reality. The indicative mood means that
something has actually happened. Verbs in the subjunctive mood
express possibility, hypothetical situations, hope, or
expectation.  To clarify, let's take a look at an example: I was
outside this morning, and it was rainy. In this case, th