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CACTUS
ANSWERS: 6
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"As if it was." Take "it" out of context and conjugate the verb "to be." You would say (in past tense) he/she/it was, not he/she/it were. You only use "were" after you, they, or we. Edit due to Kim's comment: You're absolutely right. Sorry I didn't mention that.
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"As if it were". Such usage implies a wish or fantasy. As such, the subjunctive form of the verb "to be" should be used. In this case the subjunctive form is "were". Other verbs such as (give or pass) would simply be written without an 's'. For example, "If Bubba should give his fish to me..." rather than "If Bubba should gives his fish to me..."
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Please indulge the linguist in me for a second... :) There are two points of view here: PRESCRIPTIVISM: Kim's answer is correct. The grammatical rule is that you need the imperfect subjunctive "as if it were" in what is called a "contrary to fact" condition... if you say "as if it were," you are implying that "it" wasn't. If you're writing in an academic/professional setting, you should use this form. Many people will consider "as if it was" to be incorrect. DESCRIPTIVISM: There are some who will say that enough people now use "as if it was" that it has become an acceptable alternative. We don't speak and write English the way people did 500 years ago, do we? When a widespread change occurs in a language, the new form should be allowed. It's easier to follow this route when you know your words aren't going to be judged by a teacher/boss/etc.! Ultimately, the choice is yours... Are you a prescriptivist or a descriptivist? Or both, depending on the situation?
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But note that in English you ALWAYS have to look at meaning: If you don't know what the weather was, but the travelers haven't appeared, "If it was raining, they may have turned back" is correct. The subjunctive requires that the condition definitely not exist, so you don't want to walk into the wrong bar and say, "If gay marriage were a good idea . . ." or "If the Yankees really were that good . . . ." And note also that the signal of the subjunctive, the shift to a plural verb with a singular subject, only works in one direction -- we don't change a plural subject to a singular verb in the subjunctive. As to "Descriptivism" and paranoia about being judged by the bosses -- nah, don't get me started.
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Kim is right. The clue is in the "as if." It's the wishing that requires the use of the subjunctive. If the phrase does not begin with "as," you can use "was." Examples: "He lived as if he were rich." (Clearly he is not rich.) "If she was waiting for me, I didn't realize it." (She actually was waiting.)
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The Descriptivist answer is, of course, "as if it wuz". And the period goes outside the quotes since I'm a Mechanistic Descriptivist.
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