Tech Dogg's Dox Tox
Posted in Work at 1:55:16 PM on 22 June 2007 | Comments: 8
When I was about 13, I asked my mother, an elementary school teacher, why we used the word "were" instead of "was" in the sentence "If I were you, I'd eat your carrots". The verb doesn't agree with the subject, I thought. I couldn't figure it out. My mother wasn't much help either. "I don't know myself," she replied. "It's a rule of grammar. You just need to follow it."
So much for that.
A year or two later, I discovered why. Well, at least I learned the rule of grammar that dictated the usage. Why we need to use it is still a mystery to me.
In any event, it's the subjunctive mood, which we use to express doubt, conditions contrary to fact, wishes, and after the phrases as if and as though.
The subjunctive mood has been dying for decades now, but maybe its time is finally near. More often than not, I'm hearing sentences that don't include the subjunctive, as in, "I wish I was finished with the documentation for Sun Cluster 3.2 Update 1" or "If I was you, I'd punch that twit with the zit on the nose".
My ear almost prefers this usage now. It doesn't make me wince the way it used to, anyway. I suspect that everyone is beginning to accept it as the de facto usage as well. The subjunctive mood used to sound better to my ear, but verb agreement is quickly winning out.
