In my practice with students, I meet two most frequent mistakes. The first one is blending a past narrative with the present tense, what is a grammatical tool. The second mistake is about the use of a verb plural form instead of singular one and vice versa. If you think one of them is lack of final S after verbs in the simple present singular subject, my answer is no. Although final S is a legendary mistake, I also follow it from time to time, today, I want to discuss unexpected “they” and “were” applications.
Let us begin with “were”.
If I were you…
Standard utilization of “were” (BE verb) is a plural subject in the past. And that is right. However, there are several more cases where we have to apply “were” instead of “was”. That is conditionals. The most famous spoken example is “If I were you, .... I would do this or that”.
This “rule” is not very logical, but it is historically determined and easy enough to memorize. I want to give you more instances.
If he were empathic, he would help me with the task.
If the signpost were red, I would notice this warning message without problem.
These conditionals, which in school we could call Conditional 2, express present or future unreal situations.
If I were rich now, I would buy you the house as a gift.
If she were hardworking next month, we would finish the project then.
So, these sorts of unreal present conditionals are cases of the subjunctive mood, which is a more general phenomenon in the grammar world. “Subjunctive mood” is a grammatical term that refers to what form of a verb we implement in different imaginable (unreal) situations like wish, suggestion, demand, or our hypotheses about reality.
Cases,
If the temperature were higher, I would go outside. // nearest future
I wish she were thinking about me all the time. // present moment
If only I were a healthy person. // present moment
I wish I were confident in different situations. // present
My friend wishes she were a more well-organized person.
Her friend in prison wishes they were free now.
If only it were warmer next week. // future
Pay attention! Above-mentioned examples also show that past grammatical constructions can describe the future. Maybe, in one of the next posts, I will open the topic in-depth. Let me dive into the next case when “they” means singular.
Singular they
We often prefer to describe some situations or someone without pointing out their gender. It helps avoid using “she or he” in writing (especially academic) or speaking. There are myriad situations where we can utilize singular they, that is, talking about doctors, teachers, students, administrative workers, etc. In brief, by using singular they, we focus on an action or a role rather than on a personality.
Let me give you several instances where each subject in the sentences has a singular form.
The journalist never reveals their sources.
In this very cafe, my colleague forgot their notebook last Friday.
Someone has knocked on the door. They are coming. (Means only one person).
Our team lead always prepare a retrospective themselves.
Tomorrow, I am going to visit a dentist, they should help me with the toothache.
Each traveler has to have their ID or passport to cross the border of my country.
Also, an example from “were” section of the article “The person in prison wishes they were free now” is about one person, who wants to be free and now does their time in prison.
I hope the idea of the rule is clear, and my attentive reader will take the knowledge with them. Here “Them” is also a singular.
All in all, each language is full of its own fascinating, illogical, and surprising shapes or dark corners. If you are interested in these kinds of topics, please write your comments down below. Thanks for reading!