Phrase: If I were not a nurse, I'd probably be a photographer.

[Borregm]

Hi everyone! I just joined this group because I want to improve my conversational English as well as my grammar.
I want to know if the following sentence is grammatically correct:
" If I were not a nurse, I'd probably be a photographer."

[Cerberus™]

Welcome! Yes, it is correct. In your sentence, there is probably some emphasis on "not". If you wanted regular emphasis, you'd say "weren't" instead of "were not".

[Gkukreti]

[Cerberus™]

If + past subjunctive ("were") in subordinate clause and would in main clause together form a hypothetical situation: you are speculating about a situation that is (currently) not the case. Search Google for hypothetical and conditional.

I say "was" is wrong here, although it is so used colloquially by some; but Alan appears to go so far as to say it is not wrong. I'd not use "was" (past simple) here because it is about a hypothetical situation, not about a situation in the past.

[Borregm]

thanks Cerberus, much appreciated!!

[Alan]

Hi Cerberus,

The point i was trying to make was that 'I was' in that sort of sentence is now generally accepted.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Are you a Persuader?

[Yuri Yurinov]

Hi Alan and Cerberus,

There are too many collisions in the use of English. Sometimes we, non-natives, are ill at ease before doing a test, because, according to some opinions of native speakers, two or even three variants are possible. There was an information in one of Russian student's book that it is possible to use 'was' instead of 'were' in the sentences like "If I were a President I would..." and I remember that I saw such information in one of English student's book too. Once I heard that the use of "the" in the word combinations like "in (the) summer" is optional. The list of such collisions may be continued.
What shall I do when I come across such a collision in the English test which presumes only one right answer? Are there any sources which may provide us with etalon grammar and lexis?

Regards,

Yuri

[Alan]

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Hi Yuri,

An interesting question. I like the use of the word 'collision' incidentally. I hope I haven't added to the confusion by what I have said about 'was/were'. Obviously any living language is constantly in a state of flux and English is notorious for the way it seems to flout so called 'rules' laid down in the past. You only have to read articles written one hundred, two hundred, three hundred years ago to see erudite scholars bemoaning the way the language is being debased and going downhill. But I am avoiding the issue and not addressing your question. There are two things I would say:the essence of a good test is that it should avoid ambiguity and I tried when I wrote the first few hundred tests when the site opened and I am sure others since have tried to achieve this. At the same time the nature of multiple choice questions leaves them open to the possibility of different interpretations. The second point I would make is that I am a great believer in accepting new ways of speaking/writing as long as the meaning is clear. In that respect I think American English has given a great boost to my mother tongue. Just one further point - what do you mean by this: etalon grammar?

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Womens' Day

[Yuri Yurinov]

Thank you, Alan,

When I wrote "etalon grammar and lexis" I meant "the use of language that is accepted by majority of linguists".

Best regards,

Yuri

[Gkukreti]