fb

Activity

  • Emily Waldorf replied to the topic First Person Present in the forum General Writing Discussions 3 years, 11 months ago

    @noah-cochran

    Thank you!

     

    Ah! No, “was” is incorrect, but not quite in the way you’re thinking. These two sentences are similar in that the MC is thinking hypothetically:

    Even if it was, forgiveness is a big word.
    If only it was her—!

    When something is a wish or otherwise hypothetical, it is correct to use “were”, although people will use “was” because it sounds right (like I thought it did). I might say, “I wish it were summer!” This is present tense, but I still use “were”.

    I’m 99% percent sure that is correct, but I didn’t know that at the time. I’ll have to double check with my grammar dictionary sister. 🙂 Thanks for catching that!

Pin It on Pinterest