| 词组 | as if, as though |
| 释义 | as if, as though 1. At one time the propriety of as though used for as if"was considered dubious. Bierce 1909 damns the locution with faint recognition, mentioning that as though does have its defenders. Bernstein wrestled with the problem in a 1957 Winners & Sinners; by Bernstein 1971 he has accepted it. Everyone else who even mentions the matter finds as though and as if interchangeable. 2. What Bierce did not notice was that his example of as though—"She wept as though her heart was broken."— follows as though with a verb in the indicative mood. Several commentators insist on the subjunctive. Fowler 1926 considered the indicative an illiteracy (he condemned the future after as though equally). Simon 1980 plumps for the subjunctive; Flesch 1964 says the subjunctive is extinct after as if and as though. A number of other commentators (such as Harper 1985, Janis 1984, Scott, Foresman 1981) allow either the indicative or the subjunctive, reserving the subjunctive for formal occasions (newspaper reporting counts as formal in Harper). Evidence in our files shows both subjunctive and indicative in frequent respectable use. There seems to be little difference in formality. Some examples: • ... it seemed to me as if every other man was sensible —Irving Wallace, The Writer, November 1968 • It is as if there were some psychic healing tissue — Irving Wallace, The Writer, November 1968 • ... as though the eyes and brain are undistorting windows —Richard Gregory, Times Literary Supp., 23 June 1972 • ... as though there were no distinction —Philip Roth, Reading Myself and Others, 1975 • ... felt as if he was being observed —E. L. Docto-row, Ragtime, 1975 • ... as though she were inviting us to watch her — Mollie Panter-Downes, New Yorker, 4 Nov. 1985 3. See also like, as, as if. |
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