student asking question

I'm not sure why "were to" was inserted in this sentence

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Were/was to" is often used to introduce a hypothetical or conditional situation, usually one that is unlikely to happen. Note that this must always be used with "if." Here, the speaker is introducing an if clause, about what she was to told do if something happened. Ex: If I ever were to win the lottery, I would start a charity. Ex: If he ever were to apologize, it'd be the shock of my life.

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