Pls help me with this "if" statement

Question

Which of the below statement is correctly spoken or written:

1) She speaks as if she is better than others.

or

2) She speaks as if she was better than other.

Please explain to me your choice of answer so that I will understand the difference and use it correctly the next time. Show me more other examples like this if you can, I will greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

For me it's just a matter of matching tenses.

She speaks as if she is ...
She spoke as if she was ...

CJ

Philip · Answer

Good morning, CJ.
Would using the subjunctive imply that the speaker doesn't believe the reference to be true?
[She speaks as if she were better...] That's my feeling.

CalifJimFor me it's just a matter of matching tenses.She speaks as if she is ...She spoke as if she was ...CJ

Anonymous · Answer

2) is grammatically correct, employing the subjunctive mood.  Precisely speaking, 1) is grammatically wrong but still an O.K. expression, I guess.

Spongebob123 · Answer

Hello CaliJim, thanks for responding to me. I really appreciate it. Thanks to the rest of the guys responding to me too. Back to the 2 sentences:

1) she speaks as if she is better than others.

2) she speaks as if she was/were better than others.

To CaliJim,
I guess what you mean is that the two statements above are grammatically correct. Am I right to say that? The difference is that each of them shows a different meaning. Am I right about this? What I don't understand is how and when should I use the "as if she is" and how and when I should use the "as if she was/were" in the above sentence construction. Could you explain to me the meanings shown by the usage of "as if she is" and "as if she was/were" in the above sentence format. I understand by the usage of "as if she was/were" indicates a form of speculation and thus the past tense there. It also shows a meaning that she is definitely not better than others. Am I right about this?? How about the usage of "as if she is" and what meaning does it show?

By the way, you wrote: "She spoke as if she was ...". Can I continue to use the present tense "speak" in the sentence as in: "she speaks as if she was/were better than others". Is it still grammatically correct??

Please explain to me. Thank you very much.

CalifJim · Answer

spongebob1231) she speaks as if she is better than others.2) she speaks as if she was/were better than others.To CaliJim,I guess what you mean is that the two statements above are grammatically correct. Am I right to say that?

Yes. You're right. You have a lot of choices, and sometimes there are multiple meanings.

1. She speaks as if she is better than others. Her speaking is in present time. Her feeling of being better than others is characterized as a fact that (she feels) is generally true of her.
2. She speaks as if she were better than others. Her speaking is in present time. Her being better than others is discounted by the speaker.
3a. She speaks as if she was better than others. The same as 2., but less elegantly stated.
3b. She speaks as if she was better than others. Her speaking is in present time. The time of her feeling of being better than others is in the past.
4. She spoke as if she is better than others. Like 1., but her speaking is in past time.
5. She spoke as if she were better than others. Like 2., but her speaking is in past time.
6a. She spoke as if she was better than others. Like 3a, but her speaking is in past time.
6b. She spoke as if she was better than others. Like 3b., but her speaking is in past time.

Except for the difference in the main verb, which tells when she did the speaking, it hardly matters which form you choose. In the course of a conversation, people aren't going to notice the slight differences. Many grammarians find 2 and 5 superior to the others, so you may wish to use those if given the choice.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

PhilipGood morning, CJ.Would using the subjunctive imply that the speaker doesn't believe the reference to be true?

That's how it sounds to me. Yes. In my other post I call it "discounting".

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

So, you seem to have ended up with agreeing with the other natives here. That makes all the natives here agree that the usual rule in if clause is applied even to as if clause, whose meaning was, I thought, tied only to that of the subjunctive mode (Hence, I took the clause with the present tense grammatically incorrect although it is used often).

It's also true that quite many people agree that the difference is slight, though.

Spongebob123 · Answer

Thank you CaliJim for the detailed explanation.

In conclusion, can I say that for your number 1., the speaker agrees that she is (presently and not in the past) better than others. Am I right here??

As for 2. and 3b., I thought that both should have the same meaning that the speaker discounted her as being better than others. The only difference I see here is the usage of "was" and "were" which is a matter of elegance as you said the usage of "was" is less elegant and that's all the difference I see. Why is it that you also mentioned that 3b. has the meaning that the time of her feeling of being better than others is in the past. Doesn't 3b. have the meaning that the speaker discounted her as being better than others just like the meaning it has in 2.? Please correct me if I am wrong. Also explain to me as I don't really understand this part here. Thank you very much. Does the meaning of 'The time of her feeling of being better than others is in the past' also apply to 2.?

Thank you once again for your attention.

Anonymous · Answer

spongebob123 wrote:In conclusion, can I say that for your number 1., the speaker agrees that she is (presently and not in the past) better than others. Am I right here?

We don't know if he/she agree with it, although it may be generally accepted as true. Rather, according to what the native speakers here are kindly telling, in the sentence "She speaks as if she were better than other," the speaker clearly doesn't agree.

spongebob123 wrote:Does the meaning of 'The time of her feeling of being better than others is in the past' also apply to 2.?

Obviously not since the tense must be "was" instead of "were" in order to indicate past tense for the singular subject she, which is why 2 and 5 are regarded as more elegant (by some grammarians). For the intentional employment of "were" clearly shows it is subjunctive mode (not past tense!), thus making the meaning clear.

CalifJim · Answer

1. She speaks as if she is better than others. Her speaking is in present time. Her feeling of being better than others is characterized as a fact that (she feels) is generally true of her.
2. She speaks as if she were better than others. Her speaking is in present time. Her being better than others is discounted by the speaker.
3a. She speaks as if she was better than others. The same as 2., but less elegantly stated.
3b. She speaks as if she was better than others. Her speaking is in present time. The time of her feeling of being better than others is in the past.
4. She spoke as if she is better than others. Like 1., but her speaking is in past time.
5. She spoke as if she were better than others. Like 2., but her speaking is in past time.
6a. She spoke as if she was better than others. Like 3a, but her speaking is in past time.
6b. She spoke as if she was better than others. Like 3b., but her speaking is in past time.

1. can I say that for your number 1., the speaker agrees that she is (presently and not in the past) better than others?
No. as if blocks that interpretation. Anything that is "as if" is hypothetical. The clause after "as if" is set up only as a conceptual reference point, not as a truth. Most of the time, the clause after "as if" is false, or regarded as false for the purposes of the comparison, but even so it's truth or falseness is not a major concern.

2. As for 2. and 3b., I thought that both should have the same meaning that the speaker discounted her as being better than others.
No. If 3b had the same meaning as 2, it would be 3a, and there would be no need to have both 3a and 3b.
The scenario for 3b is more like this: She entered a competition last year. She did well, but did not win the grand prize. Nevertheless, she believed that she should have won the prize because, in her opinion, she did better than the others. She says so: "I thought I was better than the others, even though I didn't win". We now say, not knowing if she was really better or not, "She speaks as if she was (then, at the time of the competition last year) better than others".
This is quite different from "She speaks (now) as if she were* (now, generally, always) better than others".
______________

You are getting into areas where there are differences in words, but little or no difference in meaning, and it may not be the best idea to obsess over such useless nuances. Every native speaker probably has a slightly different opinion about the best way to explain such slight differences.

CJ

*Less elegantly, "was".

Pls help me with this "if" statement

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