Day 196: Use were for unreal situations.

Which is correct?

“If I was a race car driver, I would be on the track, not the highway.”

“If I were a race car driver, I would be on the track, not the highway.”

In situations where you are describing an unreal situation, you use were and not was. Although you would normally say “I was” when describing events in the past, when you are describing unreal situations, you say “I were.” (This is the subjunctive verb tense.) In these examples, you are not a race car driver, so the situation you are describing is unreal, and you use were.

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A good clue for using were in this way is the word if. This word indicates that you are talking about an unreal situation.