Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online.

Practise with a grammar game

We can use as if when we want to say what something or someone seems like. As though can be used in exactly the same way:

			He looks as if/though he hasn't slept all night. (His appearance suggests this, i.e. he looks very tired)
			It feels as if/though summer's on the way. (The warm air and sunny sky suggests this)
			It sounds as if/though they've arrived. (The sound of a car stopping, doors opening, people talking outside suggest this)

We can also use as if and as though with a past verb tense, to suggest that something is unreal:

			She behaves as if/though she were the Queen. (She obviously isn't the Queen)
			He walks as if/though he were an old man. (But in fact he's a young man)
			They talk as if/though the world were coming to an end. (Of course it's not)

Compare the following two sentences:

			He looks as if/though he's sick. (He is sick)
			He talks as if/though he were sick. (But actually he's well)

In informal speech, we can use like instead of as if/though:

			He looks like he hasn't slept all night.
			It feels like summer's on the way.
			It sounds like they've arrived.

To see many examples of the use of these expressions, see the Web Concordancer. Type as if or as though into the 'search string' field, select any corpus in the 'select corpus' field, and then click on the 'search for concordances' button.