SPECIAL REMARKS.
As if.
301. As if is often
used as one conjunction of manner, but really there is an ellipsis between the
two words; thus,—
But thy soft
murmuring
Sounds sweet as if a sister's voice
reproved.
—Byron.
If analyzed, the expression would be, "sounds sweet
as [the sound would be] if a sister's voice reproved;" as,
in this case, expressing degree if taken separately.
But the ellipsis seems to be lost sight of frequently in writing, as is shown by the use of
as though.
As though.
302. In Emerson's sentence,
"We meet, and part as though we parted not," it cannot be said that
there is an ellipsis: it cannot mean "we part as [we should part]
though" etc.
Consequently, as if and as though may be
taken as double conjunctions expressing manner. As though seems to be in
as wide use as the conjunction as if; for example,—
Do you know a farmer who acts and lives as though
he believed one word of this?—H. Greeley.
His voice ... sounded as though it came out of a
barrel.—Irving.
Blinded alike from sunshine and
from rain,
As though a rose should shut, and be a bud
again.
—Keats
Examples might be quoted from almost all authors.
As for as if.
303. In poetry, as
is often equivalent to as if.
And their orbs grew strangely
dreary,
Clouded, even as they would weep.
—Emily Bronte.
So silently we seemed to
speak,
So slowly moved about,
As we had lent her half our powers
To
eke her living out.
—Hood.
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