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.
DickOn 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
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/