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English 1b3 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Tense/Time

You look as if the game ruined your life.

Would everyone agree the past subjunctive 'ruined' here refers to the present?

If you agree, then would you say the verb following in these next examples (play/played) should agree with the tense or time expressed of the 'verb' ruined?

You look as if the game ruined your life after you play it. (play agress with time expressed by ruined)

Or

You look as if the game ruined your life after you played it. (played agrees with tense/form of ruined)

Thanks
  

Top answer

Interesting question. People frequently mix and match these tenses. No, I don't agree with your premise.

— Avangi

  • Interesting question.
  • People frequently mix and match these tenses.
  • No, I don't agree with your premise.
  • I think "look" refers to the present.
  • You look as if you swallowed a bug.
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95 Answers
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Interesting question. People frequently mix and match these tenses.

No, I don't agree with your premise.
I think "look" refers to the present.
You look as if you swallowed a bug. "Swallowed" and "ruined" refer to the past.

"After you play it" refers to habitual behavior.
I think that if you want to refer to a particular game (in the past), then both "looked"
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According to grammaring.com, my sentence is valid, I should think. 'ruined' is referring to a present time.

Tell me what you think, if this quote changes anything. Cheers:

Clauses that start with as if/as though express doubt or uncertainty if they are followed by an
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No, I don't agree with your premise.
I think "look" refers to the present.
You look as if you swallowed a bug. "Swallowed" and "ruined" refer to the past.
_______

I agree with Avangi's assessment above.

CJ
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He looks as if he knew the answer.

This is from the quote above in my 2nd post. 'knew' is a past subjunctive that refers to the present.

What is so different about my example that makes 'ruined' unable to be a past subjunctive that refers to the present?





Thank you
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English 1b3What is so different about my example ... ?
It contains the stative verb "know". That may have something to do with it.

CJ
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Ok, so you are saying the above rules are untrue when dealing with stative verbs, or at least the stative verb 'know.'

My understanding is that the past subjunctive is used for hypothetical situations, such as conditionals; wish clauses; and expressions expressing counterfactuality, such as 'as if/though.'

I also understand the past subjunctive verb always e
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English 1b3 I also understand the past subjunctive verb always expresses a present or future time, even though it is a past tense.

This is why I've been confused Can you provide a reference for this "rule"?

It's h
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http://www.grammaring.com/as-if-as-though

And:

A practical English Grammar A.J. THOMSON. A.V MARTINET Page : 250

The past subjunctive can be used similarly after as if / as though to indicate unreality or improbability or
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Many thanks for the response, E 1b3 Emotion: smile

To own something
To know something
To be somebody
To know something
T
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Avangi
Not one of these verbs describes an action.


Hi, Avangi

Interesting. None of these sites ever make it clear that action verbs are an exeption to this rule. This is weird.

So are you inclined to believe action verbs in past subjunctive form express a past time, not a present?
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