Guardian piece

[Bob Haas]

I caught that last one, too, Rudy.  But couldn't one also have used the
subjunctive "were"?  I think that's what I would have done, had I been in a
situation with sufficient time to proof, or if I weren't in a rush.  In
conversation, I'd uh probably said the exact same thing.

bob



> From: Rudolph C Troike <rtroike at U.ARIZONA.EDU>
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 01:45:12 -0700
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Guardian piece
>
> "The roof of one carriage had been peeled off as if it was a
> sardine can."
>
> My colleague was shocked by the inappropriate use of the past "was"
> instead of the proper irrealis sequence-of-tense past perfect "had been".
> What's British English coming to?