What is the difference between "were" and "have been", and are these sentences gramatically correct? 1) some of the best known writers of detective fiction in the twentieth century were women.
That is, both "were to" (using the irrealis "were") and "was to" (using a past-tense verb) would usually be interchangeable in a sentence structured similar to yours, but that would be if the sentence was in non-fiction text.
Consider the following sentence, from " Introduction to Control Systems " by Malgorzata Zywno: Note that if a summer were to be moved behind the block, the additional gain would be equal the value of the block gain, instead of its inverse. [bold mine] What does "were to be" mean there? As far as I know, this is a second-type conditional sentence, and there should be " was " there (not " were ...
If you were can also imply that you had planned to do it. "If I were going to go home in an hour, would you come?" does not describe an unlikely or impossible scenario.
I'm in trouble with the following sentence: How was/were the meals you had while you were gone? I think "How were" is correct, but why is "How was" wrong? Please explain.
Were -ing (past continuous of BE) is used to situations which were happening at a special time in the past and none hypothetical, it is more direct, not imaginative.
Which of the following is correct ? Who were these buildings designed by? Or Who was these buildings designed by? Does were/was refer to "these buildings" or "who"?
But I cannot rule out the possibility that Indian English—and specifically Indian Political English—has evolved this usage of were to precisely in order to express firmness and caution in the same utterance. Perhaps our Indian readers could speak to this. † This use is called subjunctive in traditional grammar.
I learned from many sources that as if it were is accepted by all native English speakers. And as if it was is widely used, especially informally. But is the simple present indicative accepted as ...
