Grammar question

[RickD]

Is this sentence grammatically correct?

Then your wife asked you if it was comfortable sleeping in the dog house.

[Storyteller]

Yes.

[IceMobster]

Yes.

[Audie]

Yes.

Explain why it does not call for the subjunctive form.

[IceMobster]

Yes.

Explain why it does not call for the subjunctive form.

I have no idea what that is, however, the sentence seems grammatically correct to me. Don't know about esthetics concerning sentences, though.

[melanie]

Then your wife asked you if it was comfortable sleeping in the dog house

Then your wife asked if it was comfortable sleeping in the dog house.
Technically the use of 'you' is unnecessary in the sentence

[Audie]

Yes.

Explain why it does not call for the subjunctive form.

I have no idea what that is, however, the sentence seems grammatically correct to me. Don't know about esthetics concerning sentences, though.

Then you are not qualified to say if it is correct or not.

[Audie]

Then your wife asked you if it was comfortable sleeping in the dog house

Then your wife asked if it was comfortable sleeping in the dog house.
Technically the use of 'you' is unnecessary in the sentence

Would you , then, say "...if you was comfortable.." ?

[melanie]

The use of your denotes the use for you.
I would reply no, I much prefer the bed

[hughfarey]

The word 'grammar' is a bit of a catch-all term, and often cannot be interpreted in terms of correct or incorrect. In the sentence, "Then your wife asked you if it was comfortable sleeping in the dog house", the noun phrase 'sleeping in the dog house' is first replaced by 'it', and then added anyway, which is clumsy, if not syntactically wrong. It would be better to rewrite it "Then your wife asked you if sleeping in the dog house was comfortable." I disagree with Melanie. Your wife could have asked anybody, so unless the context was obvious, the word 'you' adds considerable meaning to the sentence. Further, the word 'if' does not automatically call for a subjunctive, which denotes a degree of uncertainty. In this case, it seems that you had already spent the night in the doghouse, and could tell her whether it was comfortable or not. I suppose "Then your wife asked you if sleeping in the dog house were comfortable" could imply that she was asking your advice about something you had not actually experienced. The sentence could also say "Then your wife asked you if you were comfortable sleeping in the dog house", which has a slightly different meaning again, without being incorrect grammatically, as 'sleeping in the doghouse' is now an adverbial phrase. I don't think "...if you was comfortable..." could ever be correct, except in certain dialects.

[IceMobster]

Yes.

Explain why it does not call for the subjunctive form.

I have no idea what that is, however, the sentence seems grammatically correct to me. Don't know about esthetics concerning sentences, though.

Then you are not qualified to say if it is correct or not.

Well, is it correct or not, then?

[Audie]

Yes.

Explain why it does not call for the subjunctive form.

I have no idea what that is, however, the sentence seems grammatically correct to me. Don't know about esthetics concerning sentences, though.

Then you are not qualified to say if it is correct or not.

Well, is it correct or not, then?

I already said it is wrong, and you already said you are not familiar with use of the subjunctive.

[IceMobster]

I already said it is wrong, and you already said you are not familiar with use of the subjunctive.

Fine, do you mind saying what is wrong and correcting it, then?

[RickD]

I already said it is wrong, and you already said you are not familiar with use of the subjunctive.

Fine, do you mind saying what is wrong and correcting it, then?

She thinks by changing 'was' to 'were' it makes it correct.

Mine:

Then your wife asked you if it was comfortable sleeping in the dog house.

Audie's:

Then your wife asked you if it were comfortable sleeping in the dog house.

But the argument isn't if her sentence is correct, only if mine is incorrect.

Keep in mind the context. My sentence was a response to Jac's joke here:

Jac wrote:
My wife asked me if her dress made her look fat. I told her no, the second helping at every meal was doing that. (Then the fight started.)

My response:

Then your wife asked you if it was comfortable sleeping in the dog house.

Then Audie said 'was' should be 'were'.

[IceMobster]

Both seem good to me.
I also asked a friend from Murica for your sentence and he also says it's grammatically correct.