Gammar guru's, question for you.

[detz]

Is there a rule(or does it even matter) if I was were or was, like this?

If I was a baseball player...
If I were a baseball player...

Will one or the other work for any phrase?

[Jaffa Cake]

'If I were' is the grammatically correct of the two, although 'If I was' is used widely. Of course, things may differ in various English speaking nations.

[detz]

'If I were' is the grammatically correct of the two, although 'If I was' is used widely. Of course, things may differ in various English speaking nations.

So if I were going to add this to a software package that might be seen be millions I should use the "If I were" part? :D

[rdowns]

I would use, Were I a baseball player,...

[Jaffa Cake]

So if I were going to add this to a software package that might be seen be millions I should use the "If I were" part? :DIt might be an idea, yes. :p

[t0mat0]

Formal vs informal
e.g.
http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-subjunctive.htm table at bottom.
Googling:
was were grammar

will give you some more examples. "I were.." isn't used that much really.

[brad.c]

Is there a rule(or does it even matter) if I was were or was, like this?

If I was a baseball player...
If I were a baseball player...

Will one or the other work for any phrase?

Ask a baseball player. :D

[trule]

Try this:

http://www.better-english.com/grammar/was2.htm

I got 100% :D


was - verb
First-person singular simple past tense indicative of be.
Third-person singular simple past tense indicative of be.

Everything else is were.


SO the answer is;

If I was a basket ball player (1st person singular)
If you were a basket ball player (2nd person singular)
If he was as basket ball player (3rd person singular)
If we were basket ball players (1st person plural)

...



btw: its nothing to do with formal/informal.

[Cave Man]

Ask a baseball player. :D

OK!
(<--- See the bat in my hand?)

"If I were..." is the correct usage.

[Abstract]

I think "If I were...." is correct as well, but according to Thule's post, the 3 of us are probably wrong. :p

[stomer]

"If I were" uses the subjunctive. You need to look that up.

Fewer people continue to use the subjunctive.

[trule]

I think "If I were...." is correct as well, but according to Thule's post, the 3 of us are probably wrong. :p

My first answer was "were" too, however once you start playing around with a few sentences it becomes clear that "was" works all the time where as "were" only works in a few cases. EDIT Subjunctive was that case.

Try it ;)

Past tense:
I was at my friends house
I were at my friends house

However, in this case...
If I was to say
If I were to say

which one is right?

It depends if you are using the Subjunctive:


Use of the Subjunctive

We use subjunctives mainly when talking about events that are not certain to happen. For example, we use the subjunctive when talking about events that somebody:

wants to happen
hopes will happen
imagines happening



So, the answer probably depends on the second part of the sentence. A good link on this topic is http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=164

It seems the correct answer depends, "If I were" is Subjunctive however Subjunctive is rarely used these days, so the "modern" answer would be "If I was".