0
Sb70012 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

I wish I had been / were Informed

Hello,
I have asked this question in three different forums because two native English speakers gave me different answers.
That's why I decided to ask it in other forums and this forum to know your opinion about the question I want to ask.
Have look at this test:

I wish I ……. Informed about the accident the other day.
a)had
b)were
c)will be
d)had been (Answer Key)

Source: school exam

I have asked whether option B (were) can work in my test or not.

Some of them said: "No, only D (had been) can work because the accident happened 'the other day', i.e. in the past.
And some said: "Yes, option B (were) can work because we don't know whether "the other day" refers to the accident or the receipt of the information or the presence of the information in the speaker's head."

Would you please be kind enough to have look at my test and tell me what you think of that?

Thanks for your time
  

Top answer

Hi, Only option D is correct with the current structure, because "the other day" refers to "inform". I understand the argument that indicates "the wishing to know" could be related to present and the accident could be in the past, but in that case, the sentence should read; I wish I were informed about the accident that happened the other day. Hamid

— Hrsanei

  • Hi, Only option D is correct with the current structure, because "the other day" refers to "inform".
  • I understand the argument that indicates "the wishing to know" could be related to present and the accident could be in the past, but in that case, the sentence should read; I wish I were informed about the accident that happened the other day.
  • Hamid
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

6 Answers
0
Hi,
Only option D is correct with the current structure, because "the other day" refers to "inform".
I understand the argument that indicates "the wishing to know" could be related to present and the accident could be in the past, but in that case, the sentence should read;
I wish I were informed about the accident that happened the other day.
Hamid
0
0
(b), were, might be possible if informed, in the sense of having a lot of knowledge or information about something (http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/informed)were used predicatively; however, it very rarely is, unless combined, for example, with
0
0
Five, thank you for answering.

Would you please be kind enough to give me one or two sentence example(s) related to what you have said?
So that I can understand it better.

Thank you
0
0
Thank you Five.
You said to me that if it were [well-informed], then [were] could work.
But again something makes me confused. Look at this sentence:

I wish I were well-Informed about the accident the other day.

Again I say to myself that [were] can not be used here because of [th
0
0
sb70012I wish I were well-Informed about the accident the other day.Again I say to myself that [were] can not be used here because of [the other day].[the other day] says to us that I wanted to be informed in the past.
The use of were indicates present-time irealis, so clearly the other day must modify the accident. Both informed an
0

Related Questions