All right. Please enlighten me, O great grammar lord. Firstly I'd like to know how it makes a damn bit of difference which words i use if my meaning is entirely clear.
(philosophical point)
Secondly
Someone whose native language isn't even English would have less of a handle on how the English language is spoken and used in the everyday sense, if perhaps having a better knowledge of formal grammar rules, which, admittedly are lacking in education here today. But at the core of language is meaning, as I said You knew exactly what I meant. I stand by my assertion. The subjunctive is irrelevant in English, existing in only certain fossilized phrases(be it/that as it may, etc.). So calling me a retard for embracing linguistic progress is in and of itself retarded. Come on now. Don't be a fossil.
See? Now was that so bad? I will explain in detail what I'm talking about.
As far as non-mother tongue speakers, El Stormo has an EXCELLENT grasp of the English language and grammar, and in fact on occasion has corrected me sometimes. We English speakers are lazy with our language and I'm trying to combat that every day.
In the Present Unreal Conditional, the form "was" is not considered grammatically correct. In written English or in testing situations, you should always use "were." However, in everyday conversation, "was" is often used.
I've taught this to students for years...it's accepted to use "was" in common, everyday conversation but it's not correct.
I wasn't saying that I didn't understand you nor was I implying that you don't know how to properly speak English. I was just lightly teasing you simply because you mentioned that half the things posted here are posted by illiterate people. It was a little ironic but a very small thing that is commonly overlooked, and I was only being sarcastic. I wasn't name-calling or anything, at least until you totally ripped me up one side and down the other, calling me names like a woman with really bad PMS.
To be fair, I misspoke at first. I called it a conjunctive with a conditional when I simply meant it was a conditional. In Italian, it would be considered a
congiuntivo and not
condizionale. My mistake. I often confuse the two because they're opposite but with the same name...but I think I could be forgiven for it since they're so similar and I have to not only teach English, but teach it in Italian as well, which gets confusing.