If I were

OR

If I was?

Which is correct?

Most of us might vaguely recall a high school English teacher discussing mood, but few of us remember what it means.

There are three moods in English: “indicative, used for facts, opinions, and questions; imperative, used for orders or advice; and subjunctive, used for wishes, conditions contrary to fact, and requests or recommendations” (31 Hacker).

It is the subjunctive mood that causes the most grief. It can be about speaking iffy. The word if changes things. In the event that and as though fall into the same category, but I’ll just use if for my examples here. The ordinary statement “I was rich” changes when we insert If in front of it. It now becomes “If I were rich.”

Why is this so? Why does was change to were? It’s because we’re talking about something that is contrary to fact:

If I were President, no one would be poor.

But I’m not President, so this statement is contrary to fact.

However, not all “if” statements are contrary to fact. Some may be true, in which case you would use was:

If I was unsympathetic, I apologize.

If Tom was there, I didn’t see him.

The subjunctive mood also comes into play with the wishfulness. “There’s a peculiar, wishful kind of grammar for talking about things that are desirable, as opposed to things as they really are. When we’re in a wishful mood, . . . was becomes were” (O’Conner 56):

I wish I were in Hawaii.

The committee wishes he weren’t so autocratic.

I wish I were fifteen pounds lighter.

She wishes James were home more often.

So when you’re being iffy or wishy, be sure to use were, not was.

(1) Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual. Fifth ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2009. Print.

(2) O’Conner, Patricia T. Woe Is I. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons. 1996. Print.

Susan is a retired English professor of 25 years who enjoys all that her home state of Colorado offers. She is an avid road bicyclist, hiker, and viola player with six published books who has really, really—yes really—enjoyed teaching grammar and mechanics to her students.