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Pructus Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
As if
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About as if clause...
In the case of Past1 + as if + Past2...
Can this structure be used when the Past2 happened before Past 1?
In the case of “He acted as if he finished the work.”, we can see that “finished” happened before “acted”, because of the verb “finish”.
How about in other general cases?
For example, “He acted as if he saw Jane.” can be understood to mean both (A) “acting and seing Jane” happened at the same time and also (B) “seeing Jane happened before acting”, according to the context?
Or (B) understanding can be allowed in very special cases only?
About as if clause...
In the case of Past1 + as if + Past2...
Can this structure be used when the Past2 happened before Past 1?
In the case of “He acted as if he finished the work.”, we can see that “finished” happened before “acted”, because of the verb “finish”.
How about in other general cases?
For example, “He acted as if he saw Jane.” can be understood to mean both (A) “acting and seing Jane” happened at the same time and also (B) “seeing Jane happened before acting”, according to the context?
Or (B) understanding can be allowed in very special cases only?
Top answer
We would normally use the past perfect in such cases: He acted as if he had finished the work. He acted as if he had seen Jane.
- We would normally use the past perfect in such cases: He acted as if he had finished the work.
- He acted as if he had seen Jane.
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2 Answers
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We would normally use the past perfect in such cases:
He acted as if he had finished the work.
He acted as if he had seen Jane.
He acted as if he had finished the work.
He acted as if he had seen Jane.
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