The post below about the origins of the word "oil" was published last week in the Toronto Star. Intriguingly, the editor "corrected" my subjunctive "were" in the first sentence to "was" (it has now been "re-corrected" at my insistence). "If only the oil... was...". I know the subjunctive is dying in English, but that an editor at a major newspaper didn't recognize it as correct suggests that it is further into its death throes than I thought.
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