Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Jerry Chen]

Hello,


Please read the following sentence:

It was almost as if the watch was trying to awaken his conscience and tell him that he had done something wrong.

In formal English, the above sentence should be modified as ��as if the watch had been trying to��? Am I right?

Thanks for your explanation.

[pugachevV]

change was to were and you will have the imperfect subjunctive, which is what you need.