Jane,

In looking further at your friend's sentence ("Every time he drove up the
winding driveway, Howard felt as if he was/were entering a baronial
fiefdom"), I think it may be intended more as a simile than a contrafactual.
Better might be: "Every time he drove up the winding driveway, Howard felt
like he was entering a baronial fiefdom." The friend could even drop
"like": "..he felt he was entering..." I also don't think "fiefdom" is the
word your friend wants. A fiefdom is a political entity. It refers to an
extent of land under the lord's control, not to a castle. I'd substitute
"manor."

Dick

On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 6:36 PM, Dick Veit <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Jane,
>
> I think your friend's copy-editor is flat out wrong. In my experience the
> great majority of publishers and publications specify "were" for the
> contrafactual ("Howard felt as if he were entering a baronial fiefdom") and
> "was" for the possible factual ("I can't remember if he was at my birthday
> party"). If I were (not *was*) you, I'd tell my friend to get a new
> copy-editor.
>
> Dick
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 10:54 AM, Jane Saral <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> A friend is nearing the end of writing a book and writes me:
>>
>> I have been going over my manuscript with a fine-toothed comb.  I paid a
>> copy editor to correct the punctuation and usage, and today I  subscribed to
>> the "Chicago Manual of Style" on line, for a 30 day trial.  But I have been
>> finding inconsistencies in the copy editor's changes that the style manual
>> doesn't exactly answer.  Right now I stuck on the use of "was" or "were"
>> after an "if."  I always thought that it was the subjunctive and should be
>> "if I were," etc.  However, the copy editor has changed my "were" every
>> time.  Here's an example of his change: "Every time he drove up the winding
>> driveway, Howard felt as if he was entering a baronial fiefdom."  Do you
>> have any idea what the current usage is?  I'm very confused so if you have a
>> clue, let me know.
>>
>> I too would use the subjunctive (when it's contrary-to-fact).  What
>> should I tell my friend?
>>
>> Jane
>>
>

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