tenses - Reported Speech with was and were


I set a test with the following direct sentence, which the students were supposed to put into reported speech: Interviewer: "Are you fluent in English?" I expected the students to write: The interviewer asked me if I was fluent in English. However, some students wrote: The interviewer asked me if I were fluent in English.


I know that "was" and "were" are sometimes both possible, like: If I was/were rich... But to my knowledge this is used in unreal situations. Is it correct to say: The interviewer asked me if I were fluent in English?




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