26/06/2026 Anna Severino

26/06/2026 Anna Severino

We corrected all homework pending:  complex passives; hypothetical structures We discussed why we can say both "I wish I was going" (more colloquial, spoken English") and "I wish I were going" (more formal written style), and why (the former has become accepted in modern usage, in line with 'was' for I, he, she  and it for the past tense of the verb to be; the latter is more correct from a traditional grammar point of view as 'were' is the subjunctive, which is in theory the required form for hypothetical.  This led on to a discussion of whether grammar and language reference books in general are prescriptive or decriptive.   Anna had done a thorough revision of content done during the course, and last questions were addressed.   Congratulations Anna.  You've done very well indeed!