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Ask for help > Please help me!
Please help me!
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Hanni9
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Please help me!
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I will teach about past simple with "wish".
Here is an example: I wish I were rich
But i suft on the Internet, sometimes people use "was" instead of "were". Who can help me answer this question whether we can use "was" with "Wish". Thanks in advance.
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1 Nov 2009
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cathrine
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Normally we use "was" with singlular eg. I wish I was.....
and "were" with plural eg. We wish we were......
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1 Nov 2009
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malgoshka
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we can use either "were" with all persons or "were" with second person and "was" with any other. The difference is that "I wish I were rich" is a bit more formal and correct in written language. "I wish I was rich" is normally used in spoken informal language.
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1 Nov 2009
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Hamidou2008
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To my knowledge, Both are used; yet I wish I were is used in an imaginary past like I wish I were rich years ago, but I was not. Now , I can say: I was not rich in the past, but now I know. ( This is real) Cheers |
1 Nov 2009
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almaz
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You �ve stumbled upon - as it were - one of the rare uses of the subjunctive in English although it �s perfectly acceptable nowadays to use the indicative in such cases.
regards,
Alex |
1 Nov 2009
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Tere-arg
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Were is the subjunctive for of the verb "to be" for all persons, so if you stick to grammar rules, you should always use were after wish/if. However, was is acceptable for the first and second person of the singular when speaking or in informal language.
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1 Nov 2009
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