<p>On page 173-174, Gruber's SAT book says that these two sentences are CORRECT:</p>
<p>Sentence1 : I wish I WERE you.
Sentence 2: If the cavern WAS of artificial construction, considerable pains had been taken to look natural.</p>
<p>I am familiar with the fact that the first sentence is correct, but these examples have made me unsure when to use was and were. The book says that the second sentence is correct because the indicative mood should be used instead of the subjunctive mood. </p>
<p>I checked up the subjunctive mood on google: </p>
<p>"A verb is in the subjunctive mood when it expresses a condition which is doubtful or not factual. It is most often found in a clause beginning with the word if. It is also found in clauses following a verb that expresses a doubt, a wish, regret, request, demand, or proposal. " Subjunctive</a> Mood</p>
<p>I don't consider the speculations on the making of the cavern to be necessarily factual so this still doesn't clear things up. What are some other examples of when we want to use the indicative mood instead of the subjunctive mood in the case of was/were?</p>