Indicative vs. subjunctive – was vs. were – “If a menu bar of personal commands was/were context-aware, then a “zoom-in” button would only appear if.”

Question

If a menu bar of personal commands was/were context-aware, then a “zoom-in” button would only appear if the current window or application is something that you deem worthy of requiring a “zoom-in” button, like a map or photo application.

At first, I thought it could be:

“If a menu bar of personal commands were context-aware”.

I desire a context-sensitive menu bar in the newer Chrome OS operating system, so I thought that this was dealing with hypotheticals and wishful thinking (subjunctive mood?).

I also saw examples of “were” being used in alternate paths.

I went back to thinking of,

“If a menu bar of personal commands was context-aware”

because the characteristic of the menu bar has not been decided yet.

I read about the example of,

“I’m not rich”. “If I were rich”.

--

“The bar is not context-sensitive.” “If the bar were context-sensitive”.

Actually, the menu bar is not not-context-sensitive”.

The menu bar is nothing.

It hasn’t been created yet.

It in fact could be context-sensitive.

Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

You're correct to use "were" because you set up the clause regarding the button as contingent on a conditional. "If A was B, then X" implies a construction in which X can be observed or evaluated in order to determine the nature of A at the time of consequence.

However, if you're planning to write this out for anyone you could avoid all ambiguity by preferring "In a context-sensitive menu bar, a 'zoom-in' button will/should..." or alternatively "If a menu bar is context-sensitive, then its 'zoom-in' button only appears ..."

One more thought, which may perhaps lend some clarity by analogue:

Consider the use of "was" vs "had been":

If a menu bar of personal commands was context aware

If a menu bar of personal commands had been context aware

The fact that they refer to a conditional that has already evaluated is evident when you consider that they are naturally better-suited to use of "the menu bar" than "a menu bar", because of the implicit specificity of something that has already occurred. The difference here is that "was" is neutral toward the result of that conditional -- whereas "had been" denotes that the conditional evaluated false at the time.