Christine,

Your student was partly correct except for one problem. In academic
writing "like" is not generally used as a conjunction. The student
sentence should be: "I sometimes felt AS THOUGH I were in a dream."

AS THOUGH would call for the subjunctive since the clause following it
is "contrary to fact." or "hypothetical," as the precriptivists would say.

The subjunctive mood, however, is a dying thing. I hear many
well-educated people who don't use the subjunctive at all.

That's my take on your question. Perhaps others could weigh in on the
issue, too.

Marshall

Christine Reintjes wrote:

> One of my students corrected this on her classmate's paper during peer
> editing. I wouldn't have done this. Who is right and why?
>
> I sometimes felt like I was in a dream. (original sentence)
> I sometimes felt like I were in a dream. (student's correction while
> peer editing)
>
> I'd use "were" if I wrote this:
> I sometimes felt as if I were in a dream.
> But not with "like" as the student did.
>
> Please advise.
>
> --
>
> Christine Reintjes Martin
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
>
>>
>
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