Tina Arena

Song lyrics aren't supposed to be a fountain of perfect english, but on the other hand some are just so atrocious, they need to get called out. We're not looking for sentance fragments or the word ain't since there are too many instances to count.

Bad Grammar in Song Lyrics, Tina Arena

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Tina Arena's, "If I Was A River"

The Lyrics:

If I was the sun,
I would shine my light
To light your world.
If I was the rain,
I would wash your tears away.
I keep your world right,
Be your light in the night.
If I was the sky,
I would rain down love into your life.
If I was a river,
You would be my ocean.

Why:

Later in the song, still another line begins with "If I was"; That line is "If I was the wind,". In that and all the above lines beginning "If I was", a condition contrary to fact follows "was", since the singer is really none of those things (sun, rain, sky, river, or wind). Such conditions contrary to fact grammatically call for the subjunctive mood. The past subjunctive form of the verb "To be", following "If I", is "were", not "was". So every instance in the lyrics of "If I was" should be "If I were" instead.

Submitted by: Karen Smith

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