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dgeorgie
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As if/as though + correct verb form 05 May 2015, 07:03
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Hi guys!

I am currently reading the GMAT club grammar book and i have a question regarding the meaning of as though/ as if.
As far as i got it, if we want to say something contrary to fact, the verb tense in the as if/as though-clause should be either past simple or past perfect (subjunctive).
Ex.
He looks as if he knew me.
He looked as if he had known me.
In this cases I want to say, that he doesn't know me.
However, if the verb in the if-clause is in present perfect tense, then the meaning is not contrary to fact.
Ex.
He looks as if he knows me (He is starring at me and tries to remember whether we met before)

Is this correct?

Thank you very much in advance!

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mikemcgarry
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As if/as though + correct verb form 05 May 2015, 14:42
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dgeorgie
Hi guys!

I am currently reading the GMAT club grammar book and i have a question regarding the meaning of as though/ as if.
As far as i got it, if we want to say something contrary to fact, the verb tense in the as if/as though-clause should be either past simple or past perfect (subjunctive).
Ex.
He looks as if he knew me.
He looked as if he had known me.
In this cases I want to say, that he doesn't know me.
However, if the verb in the if-clause is in present perfect tense, then the meaning is not contrary to fact.
Ex.
He looks as if he knows me (He is starring at me and tries to remember whether we met before)

Is this correct?

Thank you very much in advance!
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Dear dgeorgie,
I'm happy to respond. :-) First of all, my friend, basically, you are 100% correct. Technically, you are using indicative tense names to talk about tenses in the subjunctive, but that's an extremely minor point. You are correct, but I don't know that any of these sorts of sentences would ever appear on the GMAT. To be honest, I am not convinced that everything in the GC grammar book is something one needs to know for the GMAT. Here's a blog article about the subjunctive.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... ive-tense/
Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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dgeorgie
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As if/as though + correct verb form 05 May 2015, 16:02
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Hi Mike,

thank you for your quick response! It is clear know and honestly I feel relieved, that it is not that relevant :D

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Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Verbal Questions Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block above for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
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