Improbable wishes about the future

Question

Hi there,Is it grammatical to express one's improbable/unreal wishes about the future by 'someone hopes someone will be/do something'?1.I'd like to get younger (in the future). -&gt; I hope I'll get younger.2. I'd like to be the POTUS (in 2020). -&gt; I hope I'll be the POTUS.3. I'd like to live on Saturn. -&gt; I hope I'll live on Saturn.Or should they be expressed by 'wish + would' ?Thanks for you comments in advance.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

The sentences are grammatical.
But if a person uses these expressions, they expect that there is some chance, however remote, that the event will happen.

Trump (January 2014). I'd like to be the next POTUS.

Fivejedjon · Answer

AlpheccaStars if a person uses these expressions, they expect that there is some chance, however remote, that the event will happen.

I hope that the USA survives the next four years.

CalifJim · Answer

fivejedjonI hope that the USA survives the next four years.

At least you've got the Atlantic between you and armageddon. [This space is purposely empty of a smiley.]

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

Paul Evdokimov1.I'd like to get younger (in the future). -> I hope I'll get younger.2. I'd like to be the POTUS (in 2020). -> I hope I'll be the POTUS.3. I'd like to live on Saturn. -> I hope I'll live on Saturn.Or should they be expressed by 'wish + would' ?

The problem is that I wish I would [get younger / be the POTUS / live on Saturn] are all anomalous.

1. is so contrary to common sense, it's almost a vacuous case. Instead, you'd likely hear

I'd like to be younger. / I'd like to feel younger. / I wish I were younger. (Who wouldn't?)

Aging is so unidirectional that I hope to be younger (some day) won't work at all. Neither does I wish to be younger (some day).

2. When the subject of 'hope' and the subject of the subordinate clause are the same, it's more usual to use an infinitive. Instead of I hope I'll be the POTUS, it's more likely to be I hope to be the POTUS.

3. I wish I would live on Saturn will not work. It's I wish I lived on Saturn (now) or I hope/wish to live on Saturn (some day).

CJ

Paul Evdokimov · Answer

CalifJim1. is so contrary to common sense, it's almost a vacuous case.

CalifJimAging is so unidirectional that I hope to be younger (some day) won't work at all.

Is it, CJ??? Just a couple of decades ago people couldn't imagine most of the hi-tech inventions we now consider commonplace. I guess you are familiar with the stem cells and the ongoing research to reverse aging...

Anyway, my primary concern was about grammar, namely the widespread notion that one shouldn't express improbable wishes by 'hope'.

Improbable wishes about the future

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions