William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb

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[*] 868. Ὥσπερ, like any particle meaning as, can be followed by εἰ and an actual condition, the apodosis of which it represents; as in ὥσπερ εἰ παρεστάτεις, as (you would do) if you had lived near by, AESCH. Ag. 1201.A participle with ὥσπερ εἰ seems to have hardly more conditional force than one with the simple ὥσπερ; as ἐμὲ ᾤχου καταλιποῦσ᾽ ὡσπερεὶ προκείμενον, you went off and left me as if I had been laid out, AR. Eccl. 537.See ὥσπερ εἰ νομίζων, DEM. xxx. 7.

When a real condition is expressed, we generally have ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ, as in ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις αἰτιῷτο, DEM. xviii. 194.But when ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ (or ὡσπερανεί) is followed by a participle or a noun without a verb, it is hardly possible that either of the verbs which were originally understood with ἄν and εἰ (227) was felt as implied in the language as we find it: indeed, it would seldom be possible to supply an actual verb. Thus in ὁμοίως διεπορεύθησαν ὡσπερανεὶ προπεμπόμενοι, they proceeded as if they were under escort, ISOC. iv. 148, and in ὡσπερανεὶ ἡγούμενοι, as if they believed, DEM. xviii. 214, ὥσπερ alone would have given essentially the same sense. So in ἐφοβήθη ὡσπερανεὶ παῖς, PLAT. Gorg. 479 A, ὥσπερ παῖς, like a child, would probably have expressed the whole idea with less emphasis.