Fran - 01 July 2009 05:29 PM
debbymoge - 01 July 2009 05:24 PM
actually, they’re not interchangeable.
Really? So there are subtle differences between the two. Please let me know the differences so that I will change it if I’m mistaken.
I asked another person on here who is well versed in grammar. The following is his response…
Dance to the music as if you have gone wild.
I think the sentence needs to read, “Dance to the music as if you had gone wild.”
If clauses that express conditions contrary to fact (or counterfactual, some say) require the subjunctive. For example:
I wouldn’t do that if I were you. [I am not you.]
If I were a carpenter, and your were a lady…. [I am not a carpenter, and apparently you are no lady.]
If we were rich, we could sail around the world [But we aren’t rich, so we will stay home.]
Therefore, since you have not gone wild (we’re assuming that, of course), dance “as if” you had.
Of course, you can buy a plaque that reads, “...dance like no one’s watching.” But if you’re the type of person who dances as if no one were watching, you’re probably never going to worry about the subjunctive mood.
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Ars longa, vita brevis
