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subjunctive mood - was/were



 
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ESL Forum | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
For + gerund vs. for + noun | a girl of a boy; an angel of a man
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subjunctive mood - was/were #1 (permalink) Thu Jun 11, 2009 18:09 pm   subjunctive mood - was/were
 

Hi,

Is the following sentence correct? John no longer works with the person to whom I said this sentence. I am not sure if 'was' is more appropriate than 'were' here?

“You would have been required to comment about it if John were working with you.”

Thanks,

MG.
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subjunctive mood - was/were #2 (permalink) Thu Jun 11, 2009 19:32 pm   subjunctive mood - was/were
 

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Hi Musicgold,

The use of 'were' (subjunctive) is all right here because it is an unreal past form but I think I would add 'still' (if John were still working with you). To be even more precise because you indicate that John is no longer working, I would say:

You would have been required to comment about it if John had been working with you (unreal past perfect).

Alan
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subjunctive mood - was/were #3 (permalink) Fri Jun 12, 2009 15:20 pm   subjunctive mood - was/were
 

Alan,

Thanks a lot.
Musicgold
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subjunctive mood - was/were #4 (permalink) Fri Jun 12, 2009 16:12 pm   subjunctive mood - was/were
 

Alan, Smile Smile

" Unreal past perfect ." Just when will they stop making these terms up?

Do they conjure them up during a game of Scrabble?

Bill.
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subjunctive mood - was/were #5 (permalink) Fri Jun 12, 2009 16:22 pm   subjunctive mood - was/were
 

xD

It indeed is funny. There's a tense called 'future in the past' in Bulgarian. I don't know what that is, but it sounds hilarious. Very Happy
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