why “was” instead of “were”

*"the poster is native so he must be right"* is the funniest thing I've ever read here.

At least where I’m from, using “was” is far more common than using “were” in this sort of sentence.

Because he’s wrong. People mistakenly use “was” when they’re supposed to use “were” all of the time.

"the poster is native so he must be right" that's not always true B)

btw, the poster is just quoting someone else, in case there is any misunderstanding

It would be considered proper English to use were but the subjunctive is no longer common.

Your average Brit encountered the term “subjunctive” years ago when learning a little bad French at school, never understood it, and promptly forgot all about it. I doubt if 1 in 10 could define the term (I’m sure I’d not get it quite right myself.)

It’s a common mistake. Feel free to be better!

It is common among English speakers to use "was" when speaking in the singular and "were" when speaking in the plural. I was We were They were This is the first time I learned that grammarians will tell me that's incorrect when speaking hypothetically. I don't think I care.

Same question was there upvoted few days ago just use search don’t waste people time

Separate subjunctive verb forms are dying in American English. You will hear "were" from educated or hypercorrect speakers, but most people say "was" most of the time, I would say.

English hates the subjunctive is why.

Many English speakers tend to use was when they should use were when they are talking about hypothetical situations. It is wrong to say “if I was” but still common to see.

This is an example of the past subjunctive, which was historically used in these types of conditional sentences that express desire or unreal states. The only verb where it’s different from the regular past tense is *be*, and only in the 1st and 3rd person singular (that is, *I* and *he/she/it* as subjects). Because the construction is not super common and there’s only one verb where it makes a difference, the past subjunctive is falling out of use, and many native speakers will replace subjunctive *were* with indicative *was*. Technically, using *was* in this case might be “wrong” according to some prescriptive style guides, and in formal enough contexts I’d probably make sure I used the subjunctive forms. But literally nobody will ever correct you on this in spoken or informal written language.

When I was a child shall, shan’t, ought, whilst, at once, were all in common use. Not any more. Language changes. Historically with English, what is in common use is correct. It’s not like Latin languages.

It's a common usage I'd probably change it in formal writing but it's pretty normal in casual conversation

It's common in actual everyday speech Were is a bit more formal.

It’s not correct but it’s common in casual usage, especially the US. Reminds me of the lyrics: “I wish I was little bit taller I wish I was a baller I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her Wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a bat And a six-four Impala.”