I passed a test and this question confuses me:
The young chick, separated from its mother after hatching, followed the family dog around as if the dog were its mother
I chose "was its mother" as the correct answer, but it seems like the correct answer is "were".
The question is, why are we using "were" when we are referring to a singular form of a third person?
The following makes sense to me:
... As if you were its mother
But using "were" for the answer is like saying "He were", which doesn't make sense to me. It must be "You were" and "He was".
What's the reason for this?
UPDATE: I've read the answer links that are marked as duplicates of this question. I already know those answers. But they are talking about "You", while my question is why we are still using "Were" when both of the subjects are "Him/Her", not "You".