I would say “the subjunctive disappearing.” We’d still have situations where other languages require the subjunctive, but for English, you’re using the indicative verb.
Put another way, if the same form covers both moods, indicative and subjunctive, what is the point in identifying the existence of a separate subjunctive mood? You can also identify constructions where Ancient Greek would require the optative, but nobody says English has an optative mood, because there’s no distinct optative construction.
“If I was a rich man in 1999, I would’ve bought that yacht.” Correct grammar and semantics. (Sometimes better written, as often said aloud, “If I was a rich man in 1999, I would’ve bought that yacht.”)
What I really would like to know is the difference between “I should like to …” and “I would like to…”
I think that they are mostly synonymous, but should like retains some sense of an obligation, and would like presents some sense of a wish or preference.
I was aware that this exact comment would come out of the woodwork. I chose my words carefully. In addition, calling someone a racist is a personal attack nowadays, and for the rest of this I leave to TPTB.
I’m not in the woodwork, pal. Your comment was racist. Instead of the widely considered derogatory Ebonics, try African-American Vernacular English (AAVE for short). And try to avoid suggesting that your stereotype is how black people talk.
Not to the thrust of your reply, or original reply, still left to the subjunctive-then Them, but I had no idea that Ebonics was deprecated. I’ve been out of academia–the only place where the word exists in the wild-- for too long I guess
I interpret “If I was a rich man” to mean the same as “If I had been a rich man” as a hypothetical about something in the past as in “If I was a rich man when I got married, I would have hired a live band for my wedding instead of a DJ”. “If I were a rich man” sounds more like a hypothetical about my current situation, as in “If I were a rich man, I would retire today.” Of course I got Cs in English and Spanish, the latter largely due to my inability to master usage of the subjunctive, so I’m by no means an authority .
.