Moody.

I’ve been called that a time or two.

Or three or four.

But who realized that like me, verbs are also moody?

I encountered this when I wrote my blog post, “I Wish Life Were Like Candy Crush.” I typed the title, stopped, looked at it, deleted “were” and typed in “was,” doubted myself, deleted “was,” and retyped “were.”

Which past tense verb was correct? In the very back of my cluttered editing mind, I vaguely remembered a rule about subjunctive verbs.

Subjunctive verbs are used to express a command, a wish, a suggestion, or a condition that is contrary to fact. Basically, if you wish something would happen, that is subjunctive mood. If it is a fact, then it is not subjunctive mood.

For example:

• I wish I were a rich girl. [subjunctive mood]
• I was a rich girl before I spent all my money. [not subjunctive mood]
• If I were to win the lottery, I’d buy a new car.
• I was going to buy a car when I win the lottery.

Use “were” when you are talking about things that aren’t true, aren’t fact, and didn’t happen but you just wish they would happen or wonder what would happen if things were different from the way they are.

Clues you need to use “were” include:

• I wish …
• If I …
• Could/would …

Use “was” when you are talking about something that did happen, is likely to happen, is true, or is likely to be true. When you aren’t wishing for unicorns and clouds to rain down candy corn, use “was.”

So am I saying you have to pay attention to meaning?

Yep! Use your context clues (think back to second grade) and determine what the implied meaning is. For example, either of the sentences below could be true depending on the meaning:

• If Channing Tatum was to knock on my door, I would faint. (Use “was” because I entered a contest where the prize was a visit from Mr. Magic Mike himself, so it could actually happen.)
• If Channing Tatum were to knock on my door, I would faint. (Let’s face it—cutie pie is never going to knock on my door, so this is totally wishful thinking.)

So next time you use a “be” verb, ask yourself whether or not it is moody. Is it living in reality, dealing with facts? Or is it wishing upon a star and hoping for unicorns and Channing Tatum knocking on the door?

And you thought your own moods were difficult to handle!

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