Date:  Wed, 11 Oct 1995 22:45:46 -0400

From:  "William H. Smith" <Wh5mith[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>

Subject: Re: If I was



During the thread on the subjunctive, Stephen Straight wrote "If I would have

been more careful,...I wouldn't have muddied the waters..." I take those

_would's_ to be subjunctive

on the grounds that it is an apparent past tense form used with present tense

meaning,

but that is only my guess. Can anyone confirm or disconfirm this on

historical grounds?

If it is subjunctive, it is a (fairly common) substitution on one subjunctive

construction for another.

Bill Smith

Piedmont College