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My question comes from the sentence below:

I wish there were something to help you with.

Supposing that I want to say the exact same thing but with thought. Should I say:

I thought there were something I could help you with.

Or

I thought there was something I could help you with.

Can the first one be true when I’m sure that there is nothing I can help that person with or the were structure is dedicated to wish?

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2 Answers 2

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No. In modern English, that use (which is the sole surviving instance of the old subjunctive form of the verb) is used only with wish and with conditionals (if, whether, literary inversion).

Older English allowed it with a wider range of verbs, but it has survived only in those two contexts (and not at all for some English speakers).

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  • Is this a dialect thing? I say "I wish there was", "if only there was", ...
    – user20574
    Commented Jun 26, 2021 at 0:00
  • Yes, but it's not a geographic or regional dialect so much as a social one. (Which means that people who do use were are often under the misapprehension that their dialect is "correct" and other people's is "wrong").
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Jun 26, 2021 at 11:23
  • @ColinFine Thanks for your answer. So, for stuff that you mentioned above, were and was can both be correct but in most exams, I see were as the correct form but I regularly hear natives use was that might be because of the changes that the speech grammar receives in most languages; Is my thought right? But the one with thought is wrong based on your answer. If any of my stuff are wrong, please let me know and thank you again.
    – NUMERICALUDD
    Commented Jun 27, 2021 at 15:52
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Both should be "was."

"Something" is singular.

Example:

I wish there were people I could talk to about this. I wish there was a person I could talk to about this.

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  • Hi. Well, the structures suggest that were should be used with impossible things. Like, I wish I were taller. Is it not right? quora.com/Is-it-correct-to-say-I-wish-she-were-here
    – NUMERICALUDD
    Commented Jun 27, 2021 at 15:46
  • Well, I think @ColinFine does explain this perfectly 😅.
    – NUMERICALUDD
    Commented Jun 27, 2021 at 15:48
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    No. For people who use irrealis "were" (such as me), @NUMERICALUDD 's first sentence is fine. Furthermore, people who believe that irrealis "were" is "correct" (not including me), would judge your version of the first with "was" as "incorrect". This has nothing to do with number. (To clarify: I don't believe in "correct" and "incorrect". I prefer standard and non-standard). -1
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Jun 27, 2021 at 22:11
  • @ColinFine Thanks for your time for writing all of this and also, sorry for being late. I appreciate it. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
    – NUMERICALUDD
    Commented Jun 30, 2021 at 7:26

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