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I have a question about the 2nd conditional structure. I've search it through the site, but still can't come up with a proper answer.

  • If the weather ___ so bad, we could go to the zoo.

What should we fill in the gap, "wasn't" or "weren't"? Can the two be possible? Please explain and include a reference if it is available.

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  • Have you used a dictionary to see the difference between 'weren't' and 'wasn't'? Questions that can be answered that way are off-topic here.
    – Astralbee
    Commented Mar 25, 2022 at 14:10
  • I've read about it via Cambridge dictionary online. However, I really need an answer for this question as it has been used in a recent exam of my child. I'm just a non-native English speaker, so I'm not sure about this grammar point. Please help!
    – KH-vn
    Commented Mar 25, 2022 at 14:33
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    @Astralbee, no dictionary has definitions for negative contractions as separate from their non-negative counterparts because they're not words. Even in the case of a legitimate single-word auxiliary contraction like "cannot", a dictionary wouldn't say anything about grammatical subtleties. A better reference would be Swan's Practical English Usage or similar, but that's not a dictionary, so this question is on-topic.
    – gotube ♦
    Commented Mar 25, 2022 at 16:34
  • @gotube No dictionary, except all of the major ones. dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/wasn-t
    – Astralbee
    Commented Mar 25, 2022 at 21:17
  • @gotube Even if a dictionary simply defines the contraction, one can then use the dictionary to look up the words in the contraction.
    – Astralbee
    Commented Mar 25, 2022 at 21:19

2 Answers 2

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As the sentence seems to be talking about the present, "wasn't" is the grammatically correct choice. Note, however, that many people in casual speech might well use "weren't" here, and a fluent speaker would understand this as having the same meaning.

Note also that terms like "second conditional" represent an oversimplification used as a teaching device for ESL learners. This classification is not taught to or used by native speakers, and it excludes many valid conditional forms that are easy to get wrong.

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    Actually, the "super correct" choice is if the weather weren't so bad, but wasn't is acceptable nowadays. The throwback "subjunctive" causes a lot of confusion.
    – Lambie
    Commented Dec 26, 2022 at 19:42
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OP's query about Second Conditional:

I have a question about the 2nd conditional structure. I've search it through the site, but still can't come up with a proper answer.
If the weather ___ so bad, we could go to the zoo.
What should we fill in the gap, "wasn't" or "weren't"?

Since OP's query is on Second Conditional, asked in an examination, please find the structure below:
Ref. British Council Learn English (link below)

The Second Conditional structure is :
: if + past simple >> + would + infinitive.
When if is followed by the verb be, it is grammatically correct to say if I were, if he were, if she were and if it were. However, it is also common to hear these structures with was, especially in the he/she form.

While it is acceptable to use "was" in everyday speech, you should use "were" when you are appearing for an examination. In fact, using a plural verb with a singular subject in the "if clause" indicates that it is a hypothetical, imaginary or an impossible situation.
In this case, we can infer that the weather condition is unlikely to improve.
Two links are given below for your reference 👇

  1. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/conditional-sentences-was-instead-of-were/#:~:text=When%20using%20be%20in%20an,clause%20in%20unreal%20conditional%20sentences.
  2. https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/b1-b2-grammar/conditionals-zero-first-second#:~:text=Second%20conditional&text=If%20we%20had%20a%20garden,%3E%3E%20%2B%20would%20%2B%20infinitive.
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  • Both "if it wasn't" and "if it weren't" are correct and I am confident it would be marked correct in a Cambridge English language exam. The question could have been for a class test but that is irrelevant. It is in any case a duplicate of this: Type 2 Conditional - Should verbs be consistent?
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Sep 26 at 12:49

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