Clean vs cleaner

Question

Hi,'The streets in my town are diry.I wish they were clean/cleaner.'What are  implications arise when 'clean' or 'cleaned' is used?thanks

Avangi · Accepted Answer

"I wish they were cleaned" has two possible meanings:

(1) The copular verb plus the past participle functioning as an adjective complement.

(2) A passive structure. (Somebody cleaned them in the past. I wish someone had cleaned them.)

Anonymous · Answer

Avangi"I wish they were cleaned" has two possible meanings:(1) The copular verb plus the past participle functioning as an adjective complement. (2) A passive structure. (Somebody cleaned them in the past. I wish someone had cleaned them.)

Sorry for the typo!

I meant the difference between 'clean' and 'cleaner'.Could you give further help,please?

p.s. I thought that 'were' describes a wish in the present and future.It is past in (2).I need further explanation,now that has come out.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousThe streets in my town are dirty. I wish they were clean.

Absolutely clean. Not dirty at all.

The streets in my town are dirty. I wish they were cleaner. More clean than they are now, but not necessarily absolutely clean. Just less dirty.

The streets in my town are dirty. I wish they were cleaned. Not very idiomatic. cleaned is the result of someone having cleaned them - the result of someone having made them clean.

More idiomatic: The streets in my town are dirty. I hope someone will clean them.

(a hope for the future)

Or: The streets in my town are dirty. I wish someone had cleaned them.

(a regret that no one has cleaned them yet)

CJ

Avangi · Answer

Anonymous I thought that 'were' describes a wish in the present and future.It is past in (2).I need further explanation,now that has come out.

Ha! I had written a lengthy piece on the tense implications of "wish" on your "cleaned" version.

Just as I hit "save," my internet connection decided to go on a five-hour holiday. I guess it's irrelevant now.

Briefly, "I wish they were cleaned" is often used by people to mean "I wish someone had cleaned them."

It's a bit casual. (I wish the past were different, in the sense that the past is the past.)

Of course wishes are usually for the future.

If I had three wishes, I would wish that they were cleaned. (that they would be cleaned)

If you're looking at this as an action in this context, it would need to be a future action.

I wish now that they were/would be cleaned soon.

Clean vs cleaner

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