Impossible wish
A Telegraph article titled "Prince William on sadness his children will never meet Diana: 'I'd like to ask her advice'" has this:
...
The Duke, whose mother Diana, Princess of Wales, died 20 years ago this August, said he would have loved her to meet his wife, Catherine, and watched children Prince George and Princess Charlotte grow up.
...
Saying the bereavement had been “so raw”, particularly in the limelight, he confirmed is has taken nearly 20 years for him to become comfortable speaking about it.
"I would like to have had her advice, “ he told the magazine. “I would love her to have met Catherine and to have seen the children grow up. It makes me sad that she won’t, that they will never know her."
I notice three constructions have been used to express the same kind of impossible wish.
(1) I'd like to ask her advice. [would like to + infinitive]
(2) he would have loved her to meet his wife, Catherine, and watched children Prince George and Princess Charlotte grow up. [would have loved to + infinitive]
(3a) I would like to have had her advice. [would like to + perfect infinitive]
(3b) I would love her to have met Catherine and to have seen the children grow up. [would love to + perfect infinitive]
Although (2) was a subordinate clause, I don't think the past tense of the main clause (said) affected the tense of (2) in any way.
Nor do I think that the lexical meaning difference between love and like affected the tenses in (1-3), or that the presence of the object her in (2) and (3b) affected the tenses there.
Now, (1) is equal to (3a) in meaning except the tense. Similarly, (2) is equal to (3b) in meaning except the tense.
So, is it fair to say that the three constructions in (1), (2) and (3) are all equally possible and natural to express the same kind of impossible wish?
Top answer
Everything in the title, and in the 3 quoted paragraphs, is entirely correct. " This is a person who is still horribly grief-stricken after all these years, and is saying that he would like to talk with his dead mom today and ask her for advice. This is the whole point of the article.
- Everything in the title, and in the 3 quoted paragraphs, is entirely correct.
- " This is a person who is still horribly grief-stricken after all these years, and is saying that he would like to talk with his dead mom today and ask her for advice.
- This is the whole point of the article.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
Everything in the title, and in the 3 quoted paragraphs, is entirely correct. The thing that is most unusual here is in the title, "I'd like to ask her advice." This is a person who is still horribly grief-stricken after all these years, and is saying that he would like to talk with his dead mom today and ask her for advice. This is the whole point of the article.
0#2 needs to be as follows.
2) He would have loved her to meet his wife, Catherine, and to watch the children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, grow up.
0
Related Questions