Or an American — though the indicative is probably just as likely here.Or, for a boring old pedant like me, She felt as if she were being followed.
I can't imagine any native speaker saying or writing that.Other options:
3. She felt herself to be being followed (by a stranger).
I can't imagine any native speaker saying or writing that.
Nope.Here's a context in which I, who am a native speaker, might say or write it. See if you find it imaginable.
A: She says she was being followed by a stranger.
B: What makes her so sure she was?
A: Women's intuition. She felt herself to be being followed by a stranger.
Nope.
She felt as if she was being followed.
She felt as if she were being followed.
Was is concrete.1. She felt as if she was being followed.
2. She felt as if she were being followed.
Number 1 can mean:
She felt [STRIKE]as if[/STRIKE] she was being followed. [STRIKE][[/STRIKE][STRIKE](Perhaps she was.) or (But she was not.)] [/STRIKE]
The "as if" confuses it. She felt she was being followed. She had a feeling she was being followed. She suspected that someone was following her.
Number 2 can only mean:
She felt as if she were being followed. [STRIKE][(But she was not.)][/STRIKE]
She didn't think anyone was actually following her, but whatever was really happening had a similar feeling. It was a feeling like the feeling of being followed.
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Am I right?
Almost.
Here's a context in which I, who am a native speaker, might say or write it. See if you find it imaginable.
A: She says she was being followed by a stranger.
B: What makes her so sure she was?
A: Women's intuition. She felt herself to be being followed by a stranger.
It's grammatical but I can't imagine anyone saying it. A standard everyday conversation (BrE) would be
A. She says she was being followed by a stranger.
B: What made her think that?
A: Intuition. She just felt it.
Was is concrete.
Were is hypothetical.
As if introduces a simile.
I don't agree. She felt as if she was being being followed and She felt as if she were being followed mean exactly the same thing. In neither case is the 'being followed' concrete.
The only difference between them is that the first, preferred by many speakers of Ame and some speakers of BrE, uses the subjunctive form for this non-factual situation. The second uses the indicative - many speakers of BrE have abandoned the subjunctive. The change of mood, however, is arbitrary - it does not change the message.
You can add an adverb: If it really was….2. If the "was" one is also used for a non-factual situation, then how can we say it if we want to use "as if" to describe a situation happening in the past which we think it may be factual?
Do you mean this?You can add an adverb: If it really was….
She's determining whether it's factual or not.Do you mean this?
She felt as if she really was being followed.
In this case it may be factual?
In this case, might it [STRIKE]may[/STRIKE] be factual?