subjunctive mood - was/were

[Musicgold]

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.

[Alan]

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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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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Musicgold]

Alan,

Thanks a lot.

[Kitosdad]

Alan, :) :)

" 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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Keep it simple ... Keep it interesting.

[SkiIucK]

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. :D