as if they were invincible Vs as though they are invincible

Question

Contrary to popular myth, war heroes rarely earn their status by acting as   if they themselves are invincible. 
 
(A) if they themselves are invincible
(B) though they are invincible
(C) being invincible
(D) invincible 
(E) if they were invincible

M8 · Answer

Clearly 'E' here.

Contrary to popular myth, war heroes rarely earn their status by acting as   if they were invincible  .

corerct use of as if ... were.

buzzgaurav · Answer

Yes should be E. Subjunctive case. https://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/061.html https://www.englishpage.com/conditional/wereto.html

ps_dahiya · Answer

Clear E.

Subjunctive!!!!!

sharadGmat · Answer

Thanks for posting your answers.. I have some doubts here.. Should there be a past tense action when we use as "as if .. were" ?? 

what's wrong with B ?? 

For example: 
1. I acted as if i were Tom Cruise. -- Correct. 
2. Don't act as if you are Tom Cruise -- Correct. 
3. Don't act as if you were a Tom Cruise - Wrong,isn't it ?? 

Similarly- 
war heroes rarely earn their status by acting as if they are invicible 

But not - war heroes rarely earn their status by acting as if they were invicible 


What am I getting wrong here ?

ps_dahiya · Answer

Its not the past tense. Its the SUBJUNCTIVE mood. Whenever you see a hypothetical situation that has not happened, we use "were".

If I were a millionaire, I would not be taking the GMAT.

Read the above links carefully and you will understand the concept. OG11 also has excellent explanation of Subjunctive mood. This topic is a must for GMAT because its frequently tested.

hgokaycakmak · Answer

What about the below sentence; is it not a subjunctive and require past tense then?

He looks as if he  knows  me.

GMATPill · Answer

On the GMAT - choose AS IF in this context.

I've never seen AS THOUGH as a correct answer on a GMAT question.

IanStewart · Answer

"As if" and "as though" are interchangeable phrases in English. One is not more correct than the other. You shouldn't rule out an answer in GMAT SC that uses "as though".

as if they were invincible Vs as though they are invincible

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