Subjunctive Examples with Subjunctive Mood Exercises
Subjunctive examples are given at the bottom of this page.
Look at the subjunctive examples and categories before you try the exercise below.
Subjunctive Mood Exercises
Instructions: Make grammatically correct subjunctive mood sentences out of the words below. Note that the words are not in the correct order.
You should look at the subjunctive examples below before you attempt the exercise. The answers are after the last question.
(1) were / I / boss / you / I / mention / it / my / would / to / if
(2) I / study / would / I / in / position / your / more / were
(3) I/ go / you / diet / I / would / on / were / a
(4) I / calm / your / were / I / would / if / in / down / shoes
(5) I / speak / situation / in / were / would / if / I / to / him / your
(6) wish / sunny / were / day / I / every / it
(7) drives / nobody / as / she / else / were / road / on / if / the
(8) boss / me / as / treats / I / slave / my / though / were / his
(9) John / been / were / he / taller / basketball / have / player / if / could / a
(10) were / confident / been / he / Sam / would / the / if / manager / more / have
Subjunctive Mood Exercises – Answers
(1) If I were you, I would mention it to my boss.
(2) Were I in your position, I would study more.
(3) Were I you, I would go on a diet.
(4) If I were in your shoes, I would calm down.
(5) If I were in your situation, I would speak to him.
(6) I wish it were sunny every day.
(7) She drives as if nobody else were on the road.
(8) My boss treats me as though I were his slave.
(9) If John were taller, he could have been a basketball player.
(10) If Sam were more confident, he would have been the manager.
Subjunctive Examples: Was vs Were to Give Advice
The subjunctive examples below show how to use were instead of was to give advice:
“if I were you”
“if I were in your shoes”
“if I were in your position”
“if I were in your situation”
The use of “were” with the first-person pronoun “I” in this way is known as the subjunctive mood.
Some people refer to the subjunctive mood as the subjunctive form or subjunctive tense.
Subjunctive Examples – Was vs Were in Expressions
The word “you” can be replaced by the phrases “in your shoes”, “in your position” or “in your situation”.
The phrases “in your position” or “in your situation” have a higher level of formality than “in your shoes”, which is considered quite informal.
Here are some examples of how to use the subjunctive moos this way:
If I were in your shoes, I would speak to the professor about the problem.
If I were in your position, I would speak to the professor about the problem.
If I were in your situation, I would speak to the professor about the problem.
Subjunctive Examples – Was vs Were at the Head of the Sentence
You can also put the word “were” first in the sentence.
Here are some additional examples, showing how to construct the sentence by beginning with “Were”:
Were I you, I would speak to the professor about the problem.
Were I in your position, I would speak to the professor about the problem.
Were I in your situation, I would speak to the professor about the problem.
Subjunctive Mood Examples – Was vs Were with As If and As Though
When we use as if or as though in a sentence, we are discussing a hypothetical situation.
This mean that we are discussing something imaginary that isn’t true at the moment of speaking.
Have a look at how to use were in these sentences:
Example: He spends money as if he were a millionaire.
He isn’t a millionaire, so we use were.
Example: She speaks to me as though I were her husband.
He isn’t her husband, so we need to use were here too.
Subjunctive Mood Examples – Other Hypotheticals
We can also use were to discuss other hypothetical situations.
Example: If every day were my birthday, life would be a constant party.
Obviously, he doesn’t have a birthday every day, so the situation is imaginary.
Example: Maria would have more friends if she weren’t so shy.
Mary is very shy in reality, so we need to use were in the above sentence.
More Subjunctive Mood Examples
Subjunctive mood sentences by Cambridge Dictionary
