How do you, native speakers, use the following language construction?

Question

Today in my English college class, we studied the first and second conditional...

We saw that you say, formaly:

"If I were Asian, I would have a digital camera...".

My question for you here in the UK Yahoo!Answers is: do you use, informaly, e.g.:

"If I was Asian ..."?

Do you use that?


My professor said yes, informaly you native English speakers do use that form. True?

Tnx in antecipation!

Ie - B r a z i l
ps: I've asked the same in the US Yahoo!Anwers. Let's see what I get.

Answer 1

We MIGHT use it, but no one would say that it is proper English usage. Just because a form is in common use, does not not make it correct.

Many, MANY people, here will say "Lemme ax you summin'." when they mean to say "Let me ask you something." The second phrase is a commonly accepted form, even if not proper English. The first phrase is not acceptable useage, except in very limited circumstances.

But, since English is a "living" language, eventually even improper forms become accepted, and the language evolves. Your teacher is correct in that "was" and "were" are often being used in place of each other. Most American ears would not detect anything wrong with the form you used. In less than a generation, I expect that few English teachers will make any note of the form's misuse. It will become acceptable American English.

I often invite people to read Shakespeare and even Chaucer in their original forms to get a good feel for how English evolves. I'd be willing to bet that the Potuguese of the sixteenth century has only passing resemblance to that of the twenty-first.

"jimbothe" kind of has it wrong. To say "If I was an Asian..." would indicate that one is no longer Asian. It would prompt me to ask if that person had gone through an "ethnic transplant."

Answer 2

I would always use "were" in that context. It is the conditional tense. I would never, never say "If I was..." and I would correct any member of my family whom I ever caught trying to do so! My advice is to set your standards high and speak as correctly as possible. If you try to copy everyone around you, you will get utterly confused and pick up bad habits. I speak British English, by the way.

Answer 3

I agree with Deborah. Formal language, which native speakers might have learned in junior high or high school does say that we should use, "If I were American," but,"If I was American," is so common-place that it's easy to think it's the proper way to say it.

It will be interesting to see the other answers that you get!

Answer 4

I tend to say, "If I were Asian" etc but most people would say "If I was Asian". It's just a habit of mine from my English grammar lessons at school when I was a child.
Similarly I say "one" where most people would use "you" - I would say "If one wants to use the telephone" whereas most would say, "If you want to use the telephone" when explaining what to do.
I prefer "were" and "one", but then again, I'm a grammar geek.
Take care and I hope you enjoy learning our language.

Answer 5

From US - In informal speaking, it is strange because we say if
"If I were Asian"
"If I were Australian"

but we say

"If I was Mexican"
"If I was British"
"If I was German"

I don't think it's done on purpose, but I think people where I live only use "were" when the nationalitiy starts with a vowel. Funny, I never noticed it until your question.

Answer 6

Yes we use both, If I was is more commonly used.

To me the word 'were' seems more conditional like it is purely conjecture.
The word 'was' indicates some possibility of truth or doubt.

The difference between were and was in indicative mood is person, so by using the second/third person form of the verb rather than the first person you are removing the possibility of the conditional mood one step further

Answer 7

I'm in the U.S. and never noticed what Deborah said. In my experience, educated speakers say "If I were..." and uneducated speakers say "If I was..."
May depend in part on the geographical locale.

Answer 8

Both are used, i should think "if I was" being more common in speech. I should consider anyone a pedant if they thought it uneducated not to say "were".

Answer 9

I think the upper crust would say

" If I were Asian..." formally.

Most of us say

" If I was Asian..."

But to be correct it would have to be.

" If I was an Asian..."

Answer 10

"If I was Asian" is what would commonly be used; however, I believe "If I were Asian" is the proper way to say it. It's the supposition...maybe?