At a recent (large) faculty meeting, one of the administrators ran a
'warm-up' activity. The idea was for faculty members to stand up,
introduce themselves, and talk about what they would be doing on a
Saturday morning if they were not attending this meeting.

I kept track: At least half of the speakers said "If I was not here"
while almost half said "If I were not here."  I was surprised, given
that this was an educated group of people and the speaking occasion was
not all that informal.

Oh, the things we find to interest ourselves!

Linda

 


-----------------------------------------------------

Linda Di Desidero, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Assistant Academic Director of Writing

Communication, Arts, and Humanities

University of Maryland University College 

3501 University Boulevard East

Adelphi, MD  20783-8083

 

(240) 582-2830

(240) 582-2993 (fax)


-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathleen M. Ward
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 1:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Subjunctive

Well, it does, of course (she should have said "If Obama were a white
man") but the subjunctive has been disappearing from English for  
centuries now.  I think it has become   pretty rare in speech. (I  
take it that this was an interview quotation?)

Kathleen Ward
UC Davis


On Mar 12, 2008, at 9:30 AM, DD Farms wrote:

> DD: Am I a bit confused? Consider the quote from Geraldine Ferraro, 
> [NYT 12 Mar 08, Maureen Dowd.] "If Obama was a white man, he would not

> be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color), he would 
> not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. 
> And the country is caught up in the concept."  I thought High Standard

> English required the use of the subjunctive in stating a condition 
> contrary to fact.
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