If this ... (was/were) the case, the movie ... (would be/would have been) much better. What is correct?

Question

The context is that I am sending my friend a video of a movie trailer (not released yet), and it has some funny things added to it, but it will never be in the movie itself. What would be the correct way to write the sentence I mentioned based on the context?

Answer 1

Hello there! To provide an additional tip:

For "the movie ... (would be/would have been) much better," [would be] refers to the conditional present tense, while [would have been] is in the present perfect tense.

In this example, if you've seen the movie trailer but not the movie itself, I'd recommend stating your point as follows:

"If this were the case, the movie would be much better." This is because you haven't seen the movie yet, and "were" implies (as stated above) that this case did not actually occur in the trailer.

Answer 2

were is for counterfactuals. was for an actual fact

so it depends

either would be correct depending on whether the case is counterfactual or not

counterfactuals are the subjunctive mood, often expressing emotions or opinions, not factual statements

if it were the case vs. if it was the case doesn't depend on what appears as plural vs singular, but on non reality vs reality

this distinction comes up in the English language but not in Mandarin. Chinese have no subjunctive mood. A small linguistic cultural difference. do the movie in Mandarin or a similar language and you won't have to worry about which to use. Avoid Iberian languages, they have even far more complex subjunctive moods. could get very moody. (at this point play that song about "Moody River") I'm not sure about the Sheldon Cooper Klingon language. You'll have to check with him, Raj, Howard or Leonard on that. They're into counterfactual fantasies, where the subjunctive mood should be really at home.