Originally Posted by Swordsmyth
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No, it's the subjunctive: were.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood
The subjunctive is a grammatical mood (that is, a way of speaking that allows people to express their attitude toward what they are saying) found in many languages. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, obligation, or action that have not yet occurred;
The events described would have already occurred since their specified time was in the past.
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
No my friend, you're mistaken.
If I were inclined to be a serious grammar NAZI, I'd elaborate.
The English subjunctive also occurs in counterfactual dependent clauses, using a form of the verb that in the indicative would indicate a time of action prior to the one implied by the subjunctive. It is called the past subjunctive when referring counterfactually to the present, and is called the pluperfect subjunctive when referring counterfactually to the past. It occurs in that clauses following the main-clause verb "wish" ("I wish that she were here now"; "I wish that she had been here yesterday") and in if clauses expressing a condition that does not or did not hold ("If she were here right now, ..."; "If she had been here yesterday, ...").
Was=had been/have been, as in:
I was king for a day/I had been king for a day/I have been king for a day
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
v.
If I were king for a day/If I'd been king for a day/If I have been king for a day (I've probably whipped some proto-bolshevik peasants).
The subjunctive is a hypothetical. It has nothing to do with time, it has to do with unreality.
e.g. If I were Trump's shoes, I'd trip the $#@! out of him.
were, because I'm not Trump's shoes
...these are the finer points of English grammar that I, a future former person, will teach them before they shoot me.
I don't think it will be required in ESL classes.
But is possible to speak of a hypothetical past as opposed to a generic hypothetical.
Thus the examples given in the quote:Was means "had been"/"have been", therefore you can substitute it for them in those sentences."I wish that she had been here yesterday"..."If she had been here yesterday, ..."
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
No, "had been" is used just because it's the pluperfect.
If I were Trump's shoes, I'd trip him.
If I had been Trump's shoes, I would have tripped him.
If I will have been Trump's shoes, I will have tripped him.
etc
You can use any time you want.
The first example, with were, is the only correct form for that time; "was" is wrong.
Or you shoot all the motherfucking dogs.
Don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows
He is very shifty , easiest to jut catalog the damage of where he has been .
That doesn't mean it is wise or possible to launch a shooting revolution right now.
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
I agree... jus' sayin'
Don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows
look at 4 chan / pol / calm before the storm - cbts - or do a search for qanon on twitter.
Trump has the same problems as Ron or Rand Paul would have.
No Ron didn't get a chance because Trump tweeted and went on all of the news outlets telling people not to vote for Ron Paul in the Iowa Caucus because its a wasted vote and that he would run 3rd party if Ron Paul was the nominee. Rand didn't get a chance because people didn't take him seriously, because Trump was telling people he shouldn't even be allowed on the debate stage because of fake polls. Trump spent zero dollars on the primaries that should be clue #1 that he is part of the club. Clue number 2 is they gave him 2 billion dollars in free political advertising on the MSM. You should google how much Ron Paul was on the MSM compared to other candidates.
You clearly hate America
...everyone knows things are better now, swamp drained, wars continuing but somehow different, spending continuing but somehow different
Is this the answer to our educational problems? Find the problematic students and send them to a private military. And here I thought the whole education role was just a way to get every schoolkid selling Amway.
“…let us teach them that all who draw breath are of equal worth, and that those who seek to press heel upon the throat of liberty, will fall to the cry of FREEDOM!!!” – Spartacus, War of the Damned
BTC: 1AFbCLYU3G1dkbsSJnk3spWeEwpqYVC2Pq
What in the world?
Seriously, what does that have to do with the OP?
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
What I find amusing late at night doesn't always carry over when I'm fully awake...What in the world?
Seriously, what does that have to do with the OP?
Although I do find it strange that the Sec of Education has a brother trying to create a private CIA. With the wealthiest cabinet in history, I'm curious if that helped any opening of dialog or as a wealthy guy who already had military ties Prince could just get a meeting without any problems?
“…let us teach them that all who draw breath are of equal worth, and that those who seek to press heel upon the throat of liberty, will fall to the cry of FREEDOM!!!” – Spartacus, War of the Damned
BTC: 1AFbCLYU3G1dkbsSJnk3spWeEwpqYVC2Pq
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