as though与 as if是一组同义词,两者意思相同,用法也相同,只是在口语中人们多半会用as if, 取其简短。
1.在通常情况下, as if 和as though 所引导的从句的谓语动词多用虚拟语气,表示所叙述的情况与事实相反。具体用法如下:
1) 谈论现在情形的,用过去时(动词be用were,也可用was):
Why is she looking at me as though she knew me? 他为什么那样看我?像是认识我似的。
He behaves as if he owned the house. 他的样子好像他拥有这个房子。
2) 谈论过去情形的动词形式有以下几种:
a)过去式,表示过去的状态,如:
He looked at me as if I were mad. 他那样看我,好像我是个疯子。
但是,如果状态动词带有持续时间状语,则用过去完成时:
They talked as if they had been friends for years.
b)过去完成时,表示过去的动作先于主句动词而发生或完成,如:
It was as if he had lost his last friend.
必须注意的时,在指过去的动作时,即使主句是现在时,as if 从句中的动词也要用过去完成时:
You look as if you’d seen a ghost. 你好像是见了鬼似的。
c)过去进行时,表示动作正在进行:
He heard a noise, as if someone was breathing.(高一册,第211页)
d)过去将来时,表示将要发生的事态:
It looked as if it was going to snow.
2. 如果as if后面的从句所表示的情况时真实的或很可能时真实的,则动词可以用陈述语气,在feel, look, seem
smell, sound, taste之后尤其如此。试比较:F. T. Wood所著English Colloquial
Idioms中的两个例子:
He walks as if he is drunk.
He walks as if he were drunk.
第一句表示“他已经醉了”,第2句则表示“他没有醉”。又如:
It looks as if it is going to rain.
It looks as if were going to rain.
第一例意味着快要下雨了,第二例则意味着不会下雨。
3. 随着语言的发展,as if
后面的从句即使反映的不是事实,也可以不用虚拟语气而用陈述语气,这主要出现在口语或不太正式的文体中。例如:
With the development of these new tools, it is as if man has suddenly become a millionaire of the mind.
随着这些新工具的发展,人好像突然间成为精神上的百万富翁似的。