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I'm hoping that smarter people will tweak or re-write this. The subjunctive mood is all but dead in English; it will be entirely gone within another generation or two. It indicates that some act is uncertain, contingent or possible.
John arrives every Wednesday at 3 o'clock for the meeting. [indicative]
Were he to arrive at 1 o'clock we could have lunch before the meeting. [subjunctive]
Other very common uses of the subjunctive are comments like God bless you, Peace be with you, and The Lord be with you. God bless you sounds strange to some people because they naturally expect the line to be God blesses you. But in the indicitive mood, it sounds something like a command to the deity, and the subjunctive indicates a profound respect for the deity's right to bless whom he/she will. A common prayer of a major religion contains the line The Lord is with you. This should make clear the difference between subjunctive and indicative. In the prayer the presence of the Lord is given as a simple and given fact. The Lord be with you expresses a wish, or something that is uncertain or contingent, or perhaps again respect for the Lord's prerogative.
The simple answer to the question is no; 'were' cannot be substituted for 'was.' 'Was' is the preterit (simple past) tense of the verb and is used to describe actual conditions in the past. 'Were,' as the subjunctive, is used to treat not-currently-factual conditions in the present. Grammatically, the two are as similar as apples and Oranges, whose main similarity is that they're both treefruit. 'Was' and 'were' are are both verbs, but their purposes are mutually exclusive, and one cannot be correctly substituted grammatically for the other.
What else can I help you with?
What is the past subjunctive plural of the verb be?
The past subjunctive plural form of the verb "be" is "were." It is used when expressing a hypothetical situation, wish, or doubt in the past for multiple subjects.
What does j'aie mean in french?
that I might have (subjunctive of the verb avoir - to have)
What is the mood of a verb used in subordinate clauses to show a doubtful or nonfactual condition?
The mood of a verb used in subordinate clauses to show a doubtful or nonfactual condition is called the subjunctive mood. It is used to express hypothetical situations, wishes, or recommendations. In English, the subjunctive is often indicated by changes in verb form, such as using "were" instead of "was."
What is subjunctive?
Subjunctive mood is used when expressing possibility, in English this is usually expressed by may and might before the verb, and occasionally should and could. It is most common in Romance languages such as Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish.
What is the subjunctive mood verb of I'd do it if I you?
Were. I'd do it if I were you.
With which word or groups of words can the subjunctive verb were be used in place of was?
IF
What is the past subjunctive plural of the verb be?
The past subjunctive plural form of the verb "be" is "were." It is used when expressing a hypothetical situation, wish, or doubt in the past for multiple subjects.
What does j'aie mean in french?
that I might have (subjunctive of the verb avoir - to have)
What is the mood of a verb used in subordinate clauses to show a doubtful or nonfactual condition?
The mood of a verb used in subordinate clauses to show a doubtful or nonfactual condition is called the subjunctive mood. It is used to express hypothetical situations, wishes, or recommendations. In English, the subjunctive is often indicated by changes in verb form, such as using "were" instead of "was."
What is subjunctive?
Subjunctive mood is used when expressing possibility, in English this is usually expressed by may and might before the verb, and occasionally should and could. It is most common in Romance languages such as Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish.
What is the subjunctive mood verb of I'd do it if I you?
Were. I'd do it if I were you.
What is the present subjunctive in the 'tu' form for the Portuguese verb 'fumar'?
Fumes is the Portuguese expression of the present subjunctive in the second person informal singular form tu("you"). The pronunciation will be "FOO-meesh" for the verb and "too" for the subject according to Cariocan Brazilian and continental Portuguese.
What are 3 moods of a verb?
The three moods of a verb are indicative (used to state a fact or opinion), imperative (used to give commands or requests), and subjunctive (used to express wishes, possibilities, or uncertain events).
What is the meaning of subjunctive?
The subjunctive is a verb mood used to express desires, doubts, hopes, or hypothetical situations. It is often used to convey uncertainty or subjunctive mood express an action that hasn't happened yet.
Which sentence is in the subjunctive mood?
The subjunctive mood is for expressing wishes, suggestions, or desires, and is usually indicated by a verb such as wish or suggest, paired then with a subjunctive verb
Is were a common noun?
No, the word 'were' is a verb, the second person singular past, plural past, and past subjunctive of the verb to be.
Which is grammatically correct - What would you do if you saw or see a UFO?
"What would you do if you saw a UFO?" is the grammatically correct form of this sentence.(No sentence with the letter "u" in place of the word "you" is going to be correct.)The structure and meaning of the sentence call for the subjunctive form of the verb (the subjunctive mood). The "if" statement is what we call "conditional, contrary to fact." It is speculative. You are not saying that you do see a UFO. You are saying "IF." The subjunctive lets us talk about things that aren't real or things that we don't know without making it sound like they are facts.For the verb "to see," the appropriate subjunctive form is "saw." Notice that this is exactly parallel to the "would" form of "will" that you have here in the same sentence.
