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Although this bugs me too, it's not incorrect. It's perfectly understandable in American English, and "correct" in other varieties of English.
by itrekkie 16y ago
Although this bugs me too, it's not incorrect. It's perfectly understandable in American English, and "correct" in other varieties of English.
- dotcoma 16y agoyeah, it's more den correct in Jamaica, maan! ;-)
- shasta 16y agoThey mean different things, no? If I were CEO, I'd do things differently. If I was CEO, I don't remember it.
- mattmaroon 16y agoI'd say you'd have a bright future as a copy editor waiting for you if you desired, but I don't think there are any bright futures left in publishing.
- swombat 16y agoWhat about that big furnace up ahead? Seems pretty bright from here. It's getting nearer/brighter all the time, too!
- davidw 16y agoYes, they do, it's the "subjunctive": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood And it's one of those cases where knowing a foreign language can help you think about English a bit more clearly. It's mostly vestigial in English (which is why "if I was rich" is so common), but in a language like Italian, it's much more widely used (I think that ..., I believe that ..., I want ... and similar sentiments all require that you use the subjunctive), and it has obviously different verb forms: "penso che sia" instead of "penso che e`". It appears from that wikipedia article that Spanish is similar.
- itrekkie 16y agoYou're right, we are dealing with two different moods. I'd argue that in this case the clause is subjunctive (contrary to fact) rendered with the indicative mood. This is increasingly common, and in many dialects standard. The question then is: do people really mean this in a "subjunctive way" or if the mood has disappeared entirely?
- ErrantX 16y agoIn the UK this makes perfect sense. (thinking about it I would probably us "were" but a lot of my generation would use "was")