as if they were

Question

Couldn't move my legs. It was as if
(1) they were stuck to the floor.
(2) they had been stuck to the floor
Anyone can teach me, among (1) and (2), which should be correct?

I feel like both should be correct...

Pructus

[to Pructus by Paco2004] Please don't use TABLE Tags.

Paco2004 · Accepted Answer

PructusCouldn't move my legs. It was as if
(1) they were stuck to the floor.
(2) they had been stuck to the floor
Anyone can teach me, among (1) and (2), which should be correct?
.

Choose #1

[grammar rules of <as if clause>]
(Main: present) It is <as if clause>. / (Main: past) It was <as if clause>.

• When you believe what stated in <as if clause> is real (a true fact), use the indicative mood in <as if clause> and set the clausal tense to match with the main tense.
(EX) Today I feel very ill. It is as if I have a cold.
(EX) Today I feel very ill. It is as if I caught a cold yesterday.
(EX) Yesterday I felt very ill. It was as if I had a cold.
(EX) Yesterday I felt very ill. It was as if I had caught a cold the day before yesterday.

• When you believe what stated in <as if clause> is unreal (counter-factual), use the indicative mood in <as if clause>. The clausal tense should be past when the event stated in the clause is concurrent with the main clause time, and should be past perfect when the event has occurred prior to the main clause time.
(EX) Today I have a headache. It is as if my head ~~weighted~~ weighed a ton.
(EX) Today Mom looks very happy. It is as if she had dated with Brat Pitt.
(EX) Yesterday I had a headache. It was as if my head ~~weighted~~ weighed a ton.
(EX) Yesterday Mom looked very happy. It was as if she had dated with Brat Pitt.

paco

Pructus · Answer

I understood what you are trying to say...

Thanks...

By the way, I did not use any tags.

I just wrote and posted.

What have I been doing to use tags?

Paco2004 · Answer

Hi Pructus

OK, this time your message is fine. I guess you might have used a table format of "MS-Word" when you made the previous posting. I found the whole your posting was tagged by <TABLE></TABLE> in HTML. Maybe because of this, I had a bit trouble in finding the way to answer to your question. Anyway, this time your message is OK. So please forget what I said before.

paco

MrPedantic · Answer

Additionally:

In #1, "stuck to the floor" is the subject complement of "they". It describes a state: your feet (rather than "legs") were attached to the floor, but we don't know how or why.

In #2, "they had been stuck" is the passive past perfect tense. It describes an action: someone stuck your feet to the floor.

So both forms are correct.

MrP

as if they were

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