Oscar-nominated comedy about not trusting appearances | CGI Short film ‘...

IF clauses IN SONGS

If I was a rich girl (na, na)
See, I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl
No man could test me, impress me, my cash flow would never ever end
Cause I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl

If you were there, you’d know

If you were there, you’d know

That I care

If you're a cowboy I would trail you,
If you're a piece of wood I'd nail you to the floor.
If you're a sailboat I would sail you to the shore.
If you're a river I would swim you,
If you're a house I would live in you all my days.
If you're a preacher I'd begin to change my ways.

Sometimes I believe in fate,
But the chances we create,
Always seem to ring more true.
You took a chance on loving me,
I took a chance on loving you.

If I was in jail I know you'd spring me
If I was a telephone you'd ring me all day long
If was in pain I know you'd sing me soothing songs.

Sometimes I believe in fate,
But the chances we create,
Always seem to ring more true.
You took a chance on loving me,
I took a chance on loving you.

If I was hungry you would feed me
If I was in darkness you would lead me to the light
If I was a book I know you'd read me every night

If you're a cowboy I would trail you,
If you're a piece of wood I'd nail you to the floor.
If you're a sailboat I would sail you to the shore.
If you're a sailboat I would sail you to the shore

If you were mine
I could be a ruler of kings
And if you were mine
I could do such wonderful things

I'd say to a star
Stop where you are
Light up my lover's way
And every star above you
Would obey, say
If you were mine

I would live for your love alone
To kneel at your shrine
I would give up all that I own
Yes even my heart
Even my life

I'd trade it all for you
And think I was lucky too
If you were mine

I've just read this somewhere online...

if the world didn't suck, 
we'd all fall off!

If I WAS / If I WERE... how to choose?

   case 1      HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION   



If I was rich, I would buy a new house.       ✔
INFORMAL  (OK, but grammatically wrong) 

If I were rich, I would buy a new house.       ✔
 FORMAL    (OK and grammatically correct) 


   case 2       FACT IN THE PAST     


If I was stupid on the phone yesterday, I'm sorry!       ✔
OK & grammatically correct

If I were stupid on the phone yesterday, I'm sorry!       ✘ 
NOT OK and grammatically wrong


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For more information, click here and here.                                                                                                     
OBS.: The CASE 1 informal use is very common in songs.  Here you have two examples:
- "If I was a rich girl..." GWEN STEFANi (click to watch)                     
- "If I was your vampire" MARILYN MANSON (click to watch)

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MEN vs. WOMEN [ going out ]

if they were poor...

Drop "or not"...

Whether (or not)

 

 

Murky Whether
By Evan Jenkins

There are writers and editors and teachers out there whose blood boils when they see "or not" after seeing "whether." In fact, "or not" is never wrong; the phrase simply expresses the negative alternative of whatever we're talking about. But it definitely should be omitted when it's just extra words — constructions like "She wouldn't say whether or not she would run," or "He asked whether or not the ship was sinking." In each case, the alternative represented by "or not," though implicit, is inescapable; drop "or not."
At times, though, balance, euphony and even logic demand "or not" or something else to specify the alternative outcome. On the logic front, the great John B. Bremner noted in his classic Words on Words that the little word "if" can be used to test the need for "or not." It means one thing, he noted, to say, "I'll love you whether or not you leave me," and quite another to say, "I'll love you if you leave me." We need "whether or not" to convey the full thought.
More subtly, this sentence needed something to complete — balance — the thought that "whether" began: "Whether the jawboning and billions of dollars in foreign-exchange intervention succeed in propping up the yen, they will almost certainly succeed in propping up Mr. Hashimoto." The thought imbedded in "whether" drops off a cliff; the sentence has to say explicitly that the jawboning and so on may not save the yen. One way to make the alternative clear would be to add "or fail" after "... intervention succeed." Easier still, we could start with "Whether or not."
Addendum, 3/5/99
A perfect example of a sentence that did not need "or not": "...Mr. Starr must decide whether or not he should seek the indictment of the president." The phrase contributes nothing to the sense or the sound.

font: CJR

Michigan J. Frog

Hello, my baby

Hello, my honey

Hello, my ragtime gal

Send me a kiss by wire
Baby, my hearts on fire

If you refuse me
Honey, you'll lose me
Then you'll be left alone

Oh baby, telephone

And tell me I'm your own

You call me on the telephone
You tell me that you’re all alone
I know that you are lying through your teeth
You dirty rascal
How could you expect me
To believe the lies you hand me
You’ve been out with that girl again
Now do you understand me
You broke my heart and made me cry
With every phoney alibi
When I could see the lipstick on your shirt
You dirty polecat
Telephone and tell me I’m your own

I’m sorry that I made you blue
It was a beastly thing to do
I shouldn’t have upset you like I did
With Lil’ the barmaid
If you take me back again
I’ll never, ever wander
‘Cause when I did I found that absence
Made the heart grow fonder
So cross my heart and hope to die
I’ll never tell another lie
I’ll mend your broken heart
As good as new
My little cough-drop
Telephone and tell me I’m your own