as if/as though

I have such a problem... :)

I don't actually know when to change the tense after: "as if" / "as though". I know there are some situations I need turn, for example, from Present Simple into Past Simple but It doesn't have to be always done. So... when have I change the tense?

I'm looking forward to an answer from you. :-)

nikt nie wie? :-(

Jeśli mowa o czymś co jest prawdą (lub myślisz, że jest prawdziwe, może się zdażyć), to używasz czasu teraźniejszego.

She looks as if she is rich. Wygląda na bogatą.

Jeśli wiesz, że coś jest nieprawdziwe, to past tense:

She acts as if she was (albo were) rich. Zachowuje się jakby byla bogata.

no ale założmy ,że jest biedna a dzisiaj sie odwalila i wygląda jakby była bogata to mogę powiedzieć she looks as if she was rich ?

tak, bo wiesz że naprawdę nie jest - she looks as if she was rich

Jeśli jej nie znasz i nie wiesz na pewno czy jest bogata czy nie, a wygląda na bogatą, to present tense: she looks as if she is rich.

Dziękuję :-)

>I don't actually know when to change the tense after: "as if" / "as
>though"

Don't change anything. Use a past tense. A-L-W-A-Y-S.

"She looks as if she is rich" is butt ugly.
Try "She looks rich" to state what you see.
Or make it into subjunctive "She looks as if she were rich" (but you don't think she is).
"She looks as if she was rich" isn't pretty either.

and what's wrong with
It looks as if they are here already
?

z tym "She looks rich" - to można jeszcze "She seems rich" :P Chyba ta druga wersja ładniej brzmi

>and what's wrong with
>It looks as if they are here already
>?

Pretty much everything.
Implied doubt or counterfactuality is intrinsic in the sense of "as if." As a consequence, "as if" insists on the subjunctive. If no counterfactual sense is intended, "as if" should not be used at all; the indicative mood verb after "as if" jars—or should jar— the educated ear.
"It looks/appears as if" does not mean and is not supposed to do duty for "it appears that."

If no
>counterfactual sense is intended, "as if" should not be used at all;
>the indicative mood verb after "as if" jars—or should jar—
>the educated ear.


So millions of native speakers are in error, including authors of style guides and the like.

>and the like.
e.g. Cambridge professors ?

>So millions of native speakers are in error,
You can bet your fanny they are.


including authors of
>style guides and the like.

Yup, thats really funny. A good one.


From one of those style guides (UNLIKE CALD) still worth paying attention to:

But there is one corrupt and meaningless form, apparently gaining ground, that calls for protest. When a clause begins with as if, it must be remembered that there is an ellipse.

"I treat her as tenderly as if she were my daughter" would be in full
"I treat her as tenderly as I should if she were, &c."

If this is forgotten, there is danger in some sentences, though not in this one, of using a present indicative in the place where the verb were stands. So:

We will not appear like fools in this matter, and as if we have no authority over our own daughter.—Richardson.

This may be accounted for, but not justified, as an attempt to express what should be merely implied, our actual possession of authority.

As if the fruit or the flower not only depends on a root as one of the conditions among others of its development, but is itself actually the root.—Morley.

This is absolutely indefensible so far as is is concerned; depends has the same motive as have in the Richardson.


But this looks as if he has included the original 30,000 men.—Times.

There have been rumours lately, as if the present state of the nation may seem to this species of agitators a favourable period for recommencing their intrigues.—Scott.


This is a place where as if should not have been used at all. If it is used, the verb should be seemed, not may seem, the full form being as there would be (rumours). Read suggesting that for as if, and seems for may seem.


General Linevitch reports that the army is concentrating as if it intends to make a stand.—Times.


A mixture between it apparently intends and as if it intended.


As if the same end may not, and must not, be compassed, according to its circumstances, by a great diversity of ways.—Burke.


May should be might. As if it may not is made to do the work of as if it might not, as of course it may.

The same rule applies to "as though."

http://www.bartleby.com/116/215.html
(some quotatio nmarks added)

That's what separates the sheep from the goats.

>(some quotatio nmarks added)

and some dates omitted:

H.W. Fowler (1858–1933). The King’s English, 2nd ed. 1908.

>That's what separates the sheep from the goats.

From the very begining i was to have written you sounded cocksure, i didn't, now i do.
It is largely spoken - as if/as though/like without the subjunctive mood and no theory (nor any grandiloquent terms) can change it, although you may claim to think you are extremely skillful in the field.
Surely you are, hark you,
it's more than likely you know what HUBRIS is since you're the sheep.
You lack humility in my humble opinion.
No matter how much you know - there is always someone better.
Cheers.

love that...
cheers