Fiddler on the roof - If I were a rich man (with subtitles)
Why English Language Learners Stack Exchange recommends it
Ell Stack Exchange answerers link it as a well-known real-world example of the subjunctive "If I were..." in song lyrics.
Recommended by 0 people across 0 different months, 2017 to 2019.
What it is
A clip of the song "If I Were a Rich Man" from the musical Fiddler on the Roof, with subtitles. The performance is sung by Tevye, the dairyman, and runs about five and a half minutes.
What people said
Cites Peter · 2017-06 · English Language Learners Stack Exchange · on “As (if) 'He behaved as were he a rich man'”
Your two sentences have completely different feelings about them tough they have the same meaning If I were a rich man... Were I a rich man... using " if " emphasizes the hypothetical-ness of asking the question, whereas the second may convey more pondering He behaved as if he were a rich man... is correct He behaved as were he a rich man... is incorrect, but could be corrected to He behaved as though he was a rich man... As a side note: " Were I a rich man " would not fit into the song as well as If I were a rich man [this video]
Cites Peter · 2017-06 · English Language Learners Stack Exchange · on “As if I am/I were/I was”
I am I am ten pounds heavier now. you are something now I were If I Were A Rich Man [this video] if you were hypothetically something I was I was 10 pounds lighter in my twenties. you were something in the past For your lyrics as if I was breathing as if I were breathing could both be used depending on what you are trying to say.
Cites Mari-Lou A · 2019-08 · English Language Learners Stack Exchange · on ““I hope he visit us more often” Why is this wrong?”
I desire he visit us more often. I hope he visit us more often. If the OP was attempting to construct two subjunctive sentences, the grammar was almost there. The English subjunctive is a special, relatively rare verb form that expresses something desired or imagined. We use the subjunctive mainly when talking about events that are not certain to happen. For example, we use the subjunctive when talking about events that somebody: wants to happen anticipates will happen imagines happening English Club [LINK] Although the subjunctive has long gone out of fashion in colloquial British English, it still has its supporters across the Atlantic, where you are most likely to encounter it. See for ex
Cites Ben Kovitz · 2019-10 · English Language Learners Stack Exchange · on “'non-been Being'”
Experimenting with a new language is a great way to learn. Sometimes you discover for yourself how people express their ideas in the language and sometimes you find bizarre constructions that no fluent speaker would ever say. In this case, you've found a bizarre construction that appears meaningless to fluent speakers. "Being" as a noun The sense of being that is a synonym for "creature" is the present participle of "be", used as a noun. The idea is that a creature is something that "is", i.e. something that "is being"; and a special sense has developed where calling a creature (or person) a "being" emphasizes something distinctive about it, as in "a rational being", or that the creature is