As If & As Though [How To Use "As If" and "As Though"]

welcome to this video today you're going to learn how to use as if and as though this is a question that a student had submitted and it's a great question so i'm happy to answer it for you of course i'm jennifer from jforestenglish.com and this channel is dedicated to helping you feel confident speaking english in public so you can take your career and your life to the next level now before we go any further make sure you subscribe and hit that bell icon so you're notified every time i post a new lesson now let's dive in with this video let's talk about how to use as if and as though now in terms of difference between the two there is no difference so you can use them interchangeably they have the same meaning with that said as if is a lot more common so if you had to choose between using one i would recommend as if the examples i give you are all going to use as if because it sounds way more natural to me and i don't really use as though in my speech so i recommend using as if but you can absolutely use as though and it has the same meaning so as if and as though are conjunctions we use them in two different ways the first is when it's an unreal comparison so the important thing to keep in mind here is this is a impossible situation it's a hypothetical situation so because of that we're going to use the subjunctive verb tense i could say he acted as if he were the ceo so here in this sentence he were the ceo notice were that's the subjunctive verb tense because in a past simple sentence i would simply say he was the ceo but that means it was real it's in the past simple so it's over the action is complete but at a time in the past in reality he was the ceo but in my example he acted as if he were the ceo this is an unreal comparison i'm comparing him to the ceo but he is not the ceo because of that i'm using the past simple in the first part of the sentence i'm using as if as the conjunction and then after as if i need a clause so just a subject a verb and an object but that verb should be in the past subjunctive so just make sure that verb to be is in were for all the subjects i could say i acted as if i were the ceo but because i used as if i were you know that i'm not the ceo it's an unreal comparison now another common way we use as if and as though is for a situation that seems likely or seems possible in this case we're not using the subjunctive because there is a possibility that it can be real so because of that we're just going to use different verb tenses depending on the context and where we are on our timeline so i could say you look as if you haven't slept in days so here you haven't slept in days that's in the present perfect because it started in the past and it continues until now and i'm using as if to suggest that although this seems possible it seems likely i'm not a hundred percent sure that it's true so there is some doubt to the statement you might reply back and say no actually i've been sleeping fine now in this use only when we're using it for something that seems likely or possible but we're not a hundred percent true native speakers commonly use like you look like you haven't slept in days and honestly for me it sounds a lot more natural to use like i used as if because that's the purpose of this video but in an everyday conversation with friends or co-workers i would use like so to summarize as if and as though have the same meaning they're both conjunctions however as if is a lot more common and i recommend using it to sound more natural they're used for two different reasons the first is a unreal comparison you have to use the past simple and the past subjunctive verb tense and the second time you can use this is when you're suggesting that something seems likely or possible but you're not a hundred percent sure and in this case you can use any verb tense depending on the context and you can also substitute as if for like so now you know how to use as if and as though so it's your turn to practice i want you to leave two examples one the unreal comparison and the second example for the seems likely or possible so put those in the comment section below and if you found this video helpful please hit the like button share it with your friends and of course subscribe and before you go make sure you head on over to my website jforestenglish.com and download your free speaking guide in this guide i share six tips on how to speak english fluently and confidently and until next time happy studying a little bonus expression for you native speakers commonly used the two words as if has to be as if when we want to reply that something is extremely unlikely so for example my friend might suggest hey i think you might get that promotion and if i think that's extremely unlikely i can reply back with those two words and say as if as if as if so you can add that to your vocabulary as well i'll see you in my next video bye you

Channel: JForrest English

Views: 20,223

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Keywords: as if as though, difference as if as though, meaning as if as though, as if vs as though, as if and as though, as if as though like, English grammar lesson, learning English, advanced English grammar, JForrest English

Id: jq3-o2uSqms

Length: 6min 53sec (413 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 07 2020