it wasn't were was it?

Factual Questions
1

Which of the following sentences is correct -

  1. If I was king, I’d be rich.

  2. If I were king, I’d be rich.

I always thought “was” referred to a singular subject. I constantly read examples of the 2nd sentence used in sentences. This includes articles in newspapers and magazines. Which one is correct?

2

I should be the last person to answer this, but here we go.

The way I see it, you’d use “was” for things that actually happened in the past. “I was walking in the park”.

And you’d use “were” for hypothetical situations. “If I were King, I’d have all of you shot”. (Not really!)

Then again, I could be completely off.

3

And since you thought it was necessary to answer the same question two days in a row, I’ll close this thread. Don’t do that again.