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JungKim Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

feel + as if/like + [tense]

Here's an excerpt from a Daily Mail article.

In the UK, at 58, I sometimes feel as if I’m on the scrap heap. As an older woman, it feels as if people want you to crawl away and patiently await death. Young people shout at me and speak extra slowly, even though I am not deaf and far from stupid. Social leprosy doesn’t even begin to cover it; for the most part, I feel invisible. But it couldn’t be more different here — older women are not stigmatised.
In this particular context, I selected these two sentences:

(1a) I sometimes feel as if I am on the scrap heap.
(2a) It feels as if people want you to crawl away and patiently await death.
I'd like to know if the following variations of (1a) and (2a) are possible English in this particular context:

(1a) I sometimes feel as if I am on the scrap heap. [Original]
(1b) I sometimes feel as if I was on the scrap heap.
(1c) I sometimes feel as if I were on the scrap heap.
(1d) I sometimes feel like I am on the scrap heap.
(1e) I sometimes feel like I was on the scrap heap.
(1f) I sometimes feel like I were on the scrap heap.

(2a) It feels as if people want you to crawl away and patiently await death. [Original]
(2b) It feels as if people wanted you to crawl away and patiently await death.
(2c) It feels like people want you to crawl away and patiently await death.
(2d) It feels like people wanted you to crawl away and patiently await death.
  

Top answer

(1a) I sometimes feel as if I am on the scrap heap. [Original] (1b) I sometimes feel as if I was on the scrap heap. OK (1c) I sometimes feel as if I were on the scrap heap.

— CalifJim

  • (1a) I sometimes feel as if I am on the scrap heap.
  • [Original] (1b) I sometimes feel as if I was on the scrap heap.
  • OK (1c) I sometimes feel as if I were on the scrap heap.
  • OK, better than 1b (1d) I sometimes feel like I am on the scrap heap.
  • OK (1e) I sometimes feel like I was on the scrap heap.
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21 Answers
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(1a) I sometimes feel as if I am on the scrap heap. [Original]
(1b) I sometimes feel as if I was on the scrap heap. OK
(1c) I sometimes feel as if I were on the scrap heap. OK, better than 1b
(1d) I sometimes feel like I am on the scrap heap.
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CalifJim(1c) I sometimes feel as if I were on the scrap heap. OK, better than 1b
Yes; and my book says only were is correct grammar.
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KhoshtipManmy book says only were is correct grammar.
Maybe it was written by an American.

CJ
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CalifJimMaybe it was written by an American.
Seemingly!
He is Trudy Aronson.
Cambria English Institute

By the way, do you mean in formal BrE, was is as correct as were?
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KhoshtipManBy the way, do you mean in formal BrE, was is as correct as were?
You need to ask someone from Britain about this. I know they use 'was' (and Americans do, too), but I don't know how formal they consider it.

CJ
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Thanks. Maybe GPY or 5jj.
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Thanks for the markings.
I got a question.
Are you sure about (1e) and (2d) being not possible English?
Is it safe to say the clause following 'like' cannot have a past tense to represent a hypothetical or remote situation?
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JungKimAre you sure about (1e) and (2d) being not possible English?
Yes. I can't imagine a situation in which you might use them.

However, if you change the main verb to the past tense (felt), they're OK.

CJ
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JungKimIs it safe to say the clause following 'like' cannot have a past tense to represent a hypothetical or remote situation?
Yes, that's a safe thing to say. 'like' does not act like 'if' in this way.

CJ
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CalifJimI can't imagine a situation in which you might use them.
I'd like you to look at this one and see if this is one of those situations:
This is taken from a http://www.forbes.com/sites/winniesun/2016/12/19/meet-millennial-leonard-kim-from-home
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