Comments on: “If this was another country, we’d have to tell you that this coffee may be hot.”

By: Stephen

Stephen — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 02:51:07 +0000

Nope. The grammar is correct. The American way would be, “were”. In Canada we use the correct form of grammar and spelling, so in this case, it is “was”.

By: Bob Lipton

Bob Lipton — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:19:47 +0000

Likely it is because it is Canadian English rather than American. The subjunctive is just about extinct in Britain. I would expect that Canadian English, with its closer ties to Blighty, would exhibit at least sporadically, a lack of the subjunctive.

Bob

By: John Burgess

John Burgess — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 02:12:24 +0000

I guess it’s because the brains sit under the hat?

By: Walter Olson

Walter Olson — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:56:44 +0000

Were it my quote, as opposed to the cup designers’, ‘twould have rendered the subjunctive correctly.

By: VMS

VMS — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:37:24 +0000

Correct grammar would be: “If this were another county, we’d have to tell you that this coffee may be hot.”