Grammar Check (If I were...)

[AB]

If I were the BBC...

If I was the BBC...

Which one?

[Frankeh]

A YOUNG BOY

[anonymous-user]

I dont know, personally I would use "If I were"

I dont know why though

[130R]

were in charge of

Edited by 130R on Wednesday 20th January 15:07

[thegman]

One cannot be a corporation

[NoNeed]

AB said:

If I were the BBC...

If I was the BBC...

Which one?

were

[DavidHM]

Were, it's what's known as the subjunctive voice.

But mainly what thegman said - one cannot be a corporation.

[maxrider]

According to quite a number of posters on here it should be 'if I where'.

[tank slapper]

It would depend if you are British or American really.

Americans tend to use the singular form for collective nouns, and British people use the plural.

ie, American - The team is coming here.
British - The team are coming here.

Were is the past tense of the plural are.

[sday12]

maxrider said:

According to quite a number of posters on here it should be 'if I where'.

are you sure about that?

[timlongs]

Frankeh said:

A YOUNG BOY

[Kit80]

'Where' silly.

[groucho]

AB said:

If I were the BBC...

If I was the BBC...

Which one?

Subjunctive, the mood of doubt. So A.

[V8mate]

DavidHM said:

But mainly what thegman said - one cannot be a corporation.

Why not? Companies are treated as legal individuals.

The answer is 'were'.

'Was' is a past participle; you are generally, in the OP's example, suggesting a present conditional tense situation.

[NoNeed]

thegman said:

One cannot be a corporation

Corporation? oh.........

I thought he wanted to be

never mind, doesn't matter

[Lurking Lawyer]

tank slapper said:

Were is the past tense of the plural are.

Amongst other things.

It is also the first person singular past subjunctive form of the verb to be.

[matt1269]

Are you the BBC?

[Doofus]

tank slapper said:

It would depend if you are British or American really.

Americans tend to use the singular form for collective nouns, and British people use the plural.

ie, American - The team is coming here.
British - The team are coming here.

Were is the past tense of the plural are.

But "I" isn't a collective noun. You're suggesting that if the OP actually were the BBC, he could say "I are the BBC"?

If the British says "The team are coming" then they're wrong. But it's not relevant to the question anyway. The question isn't about collective or singular nouns, it's about prepositions.

And the question confuses the matter too. Substitute "The Prime Minister" for "The BBC" (for the sake of argument). In that case, if referring to an imagined, future event, the correct word is "Were". If, referring to an imagined past event, it should be "was".


I reckon.

[Parrot of Doom]

Were is British - ie, Pink Floyd were a progressive rock band.

Was is US English - ie, Pink Floyd was a progressive rock band.

[SGirl]

tank slapper said:

It would depend if you are British or American really.

Americans tend to use the singular form for collective nouns, and British people use the plural.

ie, American - The team is coming here.
British - The team are coming here.

Were is the past tense of the plural are.

Nothing to do with that, the collective noun thing is a red herring in this case. "If I were" is a conditional. So "if I were xxx" is correct. "If I was xxx" is used so commonly these days (thank you Midge Ure!) that it's pretty much become standard usage and is therefore also correct. Although it doesn't sound as good.

The conditional thing is also why it's correct to say "if I were Gordon Brown" (singular noun).

Edited by SGirl on Wednesday 20th January 16:48