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Fandorin Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

As if, what if

He there. I'm a little bit confused.

She thought, what if he were caught by police, stealing the tree?

Is it right to use such a construction with refference to a future in the past? Is there any rules or we just need use general rule about reported speech? Does any clause with if act like an adverbial clause of time and therefore can't include future tenses (will)?

It looks as if he tries/tried/will try to impersonate a police officer. Am I right here?

Any other and additional explanations about using it and grammar constructions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

The first sentence seems like a kind of stream of consciousness to me. This technique is employed by some writers. I get this impression because from a strictly grammatical viewpoint, the sentence is ungrammatical in that there is a comma between the verb (thought) and its object (what if he were caught by police).

— Cool Breeze

  • The first sentence seems like a kind of stream of consciousness to me.
  • This technique is employed by some writers.
  • I get this impression because from a strictly grammatical viewpoint, the sentence is ungrammatical in that there is a comma between the verb (thought) and its object (what if he were caught by police).
  • The rule is: no comma should be between the verb and the object.
  • " I think English is flexible enough for the sentence to stand as it is, though.
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6 Answers
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The first sentence seems like a kind of stream of consciousness to me. This technique is employed by some writers. I get this impression because from a strictly grammatical viewpoint, the sentence is ungrammatical in that there is a comma between the verb (thought) and its object (what if he were caught by police). The rule is: no comma should be between the verb and the object. I feel tempted to
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Cool BreezeThis technique is employed by some writers.

Yeah, you revealed everything.
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FandorinSummarize, all those (what if, as if, and such phrases) don't define clauses as conditional, do they? Thank you, Cool Breeze.

I never thought of it that way. I guess not since such a variety of verb forms are actually used with them. I'm more interested in what is said and written than what it is called.

CB
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FandorinShe thought, what if he were caught by police, stealing the tree?
This is the subjunctive (were), not a future of the past, and it's more like narrative writing than expository writing.

what if takes the same tenses as if alone. You can think of it as an abbreviated form of What would happen if he were caug
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I don't try to classify them, just I hope to know how to use them correctly. Emotion: smile Thank you, CB.
Cool Breeze I'm
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Hi, CalifJim. Thank you. It does make sense.

Thank you all, guys.
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