Business English: A Practice Book by Rose Buhlig

7. If the election _was_--_were_ postponed, we should

have been informed. =Exercise 123= Insert _was_ or _were_ in each of the following sentences, in each case giving a reason for your choice. Remember that the indicative _was_ is used to denote a statement of fact in the past time, and the subjunctive _were_ (singular and plural) is used to denote a possibility, something that is supposed to be true, or a statement entirely contrary to fact, as in a wish.