<p>It depends:</p>
<p>If you say "I realized blah blah blah", and then say "if I was underestimating myself", then the "was" should be a "were" because you are expressing doubt, which means you use the subjunctive; were.</p>
<p>If you just say "I realized blah blah blah, and that I was underestimating myself", then it is "was", not "were".</p>
<p>fuzzy wassy had no hair.</p>
<p>Thanks for the super-fast response NJPitcher! So I was correct, and Word really sucks at this stuff.</p>
<p>Here's another option you could go with: "I realized blah blah blah and that I had underestimated myself."</p>
<p>It says the same thing, only in a much more powerful statement (I believe it does not use passive voice, which your original one does). My eng. teachers are always nagging everyone to stop using passive voice.</p>
<p>Unless it does not fit with the text surrounding that sentence, I would use it over the "was underestimating" phrase. Just my opinion though.</p>
<p>i don't think there's a word such as futiley</p>