How to use the "were" and "was" ?

Question

In my child's English Book there is a question "What would you do if you were a lion ?" The printed answer by the publishers is "I would roar, if I were lion". I want to know, whether is it right. Shall we use "were" for "I". "were" should be used for plural. Anybody may clarify.

Answer 1

In this case ,"were" is the past subjunctive of the verb "be", appearing in statements expressing conditions that are clearly hypothetical or contrary to fact.

Answer 2

In this instance, it is a subjunctive form of the verb, to be. In other words, a human being cannot be a lion -- it's purely a fantasy, and as such, you would express the improbable form of the verb, which would be "I were" instead of the past tense, "I was" . So the English book is correct.

Answer 3

I think they are missing the "a". It should read " I would roar, if I were a lion".

Answer 4

WERE is used for plural or 2 or more objects while WAS is used for singular or only one object.

Hope it helps!

Answer 5

The statement implies supposition ie, if you had been in an imaginary position what would you have done.So it would only be right to use,' I were.'

Answer 6

If I were a tutor I would teach grammer

Answer 7

"Were" is used with I, We, you &They and plural forms whereas "Was" is used with He, She, It and singular forms. Therefore we shall use 'were' with I.

Answer 8

Eg. There was a cow at his home.
There were many cows at his home.

Answer 9

were: If i were you............or Were you..........?
was: I was at the..............or She was...............

and yes, I would roar, if I were "a" lion is right