When Sadie and I came back from walking, she checked the drip bowl for water as I plugged in the fountain. It was dry, of course, since the leak had not yet begun. Hearing the water flowing in the fountain, she decided it would be much more elegant to drink standing up. She didn’t say if it were more efficient or not.
[Grammarians and proofreaders — Barbara, Ellie, Nancy, Chrissie. Would you comment on “if it were”? That was proper usage when I was in school, but I suspect common usage today would be “if it was”. I tried looking it up on line and got hopelessly lost. I would like to know what is proper usage today.]
Mehrling Muse 
Cute puppy! She said she didn’t need a drip bowl with all this luscious flowing water. 🙂
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Thanks for listening to her story and interpreting it. Sadie loves you.
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Being the dog lover that I am, I love Sadie, too…it is a virtually perfect love. 🙂
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Love it!
Virtually perfect!
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Adorable! And tough question. I’d be inclined to use “was” but that contradicts what I see on https://www.grammarly.com/blog/conditional-sentences-was-instead-of-were/ since it’s not a real event. 😀 I think Ellie would know better than I.
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Thank you Chrissie. I appreciate your feedback. I suspect you would use “was”, because that’s probably the way you hear it spoken. Perhaps grammarly is sticking to the standard rule, meaning the experts haven’t caved to current usage. I hope Ellie will see it and comment. Aunt Barbara would know, too
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Lovely puppy and a curly grammar question which has tied me in knots. (Excuse my butting in. I used to write books about clear communication– there is no one worse!) In this case, the puppy had actually been drinking standing up, and had also experienced drinking from a sitting position. So you could assume this was not a hypothetical debate but a literal one, hence no need for thesubjunctive. (She’s not saying, if I were sitting, this would be easier.) On the other hand, you could assume something quite different, as puppies don’t talk. You are he writers you call the shots. What you wrote was clear: we know what you mean. Therefore you passed the test! PS at all costs don’t take my grammacrame –new word, coined today– seriously! You write wonderfully, Anne. I have never once until this moment thought of you making any grammar “mistakes.” Write into life!
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Thank you very much, Rachel. I was searching my mind for “subjunctive” and couldn’t retrieve it. I love your new word, grammacrame. Next time I’m tied up in knots over grammar, I’ll know to contact you.
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More efficient or not Sadie certainly looks comfortable standing up to drink. Perhaps sitting is for social occasions.
Humongous Hugs
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Sitting is what Sadie has to do when a car passes us on a small country road. She doesn’t like it. She’s pretty happy most of the time, though.
Canine Hugs
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It is so amazing to see the diversions a conversation can take! What a fun read from everyone.
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Sadie’s flexible – standing, bending … she’s got a few years on all of us!
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I think Sadie is three years old.
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Sadie’s just a kid!
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Okay! The Grammar maven is here, back from my US vacay! In your sentence, “She didn’t say if it were more efficient or not,” it reads a little cockeyed to these rheumy ol’ eyes. I think it sounds more natural with “was.”
When we say “if it were etc.,” that’s using the subjunctive case of the verb “to be,” and should be used only to reflect hypothetical actions or situations, as in: “If I were Queen of England, I would like breakfast in bed every day, hopefully featuring pancakes.” See? 😅 But in Sadie’s case, it’s quite straightforward. It was either more efficient, or else it wasn’t. Sadie wasn’t talkin’!
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Thank you. I had not considered the hypothetical aspect. I’ve learned something valuable now.
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Oh, yay! 😄
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