MovieChat Forums > Treasure Island (1950) Discussion > If Jim was a girl

If Jim was a girl

posted 10 years ago by fistoffury
6 replies | jump to latest

OK so there've been some posts here about the eerie relationship between Jim and Long John Silver. I think most of us know, though, that Silver had no ulterior motives except to get the treasure he wanted and he was just using Jim for that purpose. In this day and age, whenever we see a grown man in any kind of relationship with a teen boy we tend to view it as unusual, even creepy. But what if Jim was a girl? For some reason its always boys with older men and not girls that tend to evoke such reactions.

[–] MoviemanCin 8 years ago

The correct phrase there would be "if Jim were a girl." Condition contrary to fact.

Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.

[–] Underdog_73 8 years ago

MoviemanCin replied 2 days ago
The correct phrase there would be "if Jim were a girl."

Sorry, but no. The OP has it right. "Was" is correct. "Were" is only used in plural and second person singular situations.

[–] bobbiekaye69 8 years ago

No, MoviemanCin was correct. It's called the subjunctive mood. "Jim was a girl..." would be proper grammar. But when you qualify it by adding "If," then it becomes conditional or subjunctive, and "If Jim were a girl," would be absolutely correct.

English Major.

I intend to live forever.
So far, so good.

[–] Underdog_73 8 years ago

Maybe you're right, maybe not. Maybe I was taught incorrectly. Maybe I'm remembering wrong, or maybe the standard changed again like the ever changing situation whether a possessive plural should end as s's or simply s'. Or maybe I'm wrong about that too.

I was taught that an exception to was vs. were did exist when speaking in the subjunctive mood, but only when pronouns were in play: I were, he were, she were, etc, and not proper nouns. It just doesn't sound natural to me when a proper name is used.

Maybe that's wrong, if it is, then I'm wrong, but it's hard to unlearn something. I'll concede, since I'm now not sure.

'Til All Are One!!!

[–] bobbiekaye69 8 years ago

Trust me, the subjunctive mood can be very confusing, and is largely ignored by a lot of people!

But no, it isn't restricted to pronouns.

I intend to live forever.
So far, so good.

[–] fistoffury 8 years ago

Lets stop fussing over grammar and stay on the point of this post.