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"Was" vs. "Were"
I see this error quite a bit. It's common, so don't feel so bad if you do it all the time.
When speaking about a hypothetical situation, it's easy to use the wrong form of be:
"If it was my idea, I would have made it a reality by now."
In this sentence, the speaker is speaking hypothetically. Perhaps they are speculating on how they would have handled a situation differently from someone else.
The sentence may look correct, but it should be as follows:
"If it were my idea, I would have made it a reality by now."
When speaking this way, it is more correct to use were to imply that it wasn't, in fact, your idea, but someone else's. To use was implies that it might or might not have been your idea at one point, but someone might (or might not) have stolen it from you.
By using were, you are speaking speculatively. You are thinking about how you would have handled the situation differently if it were* you instead of someone else.
*as opposed to was
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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