It’s time

Question

it’s time we were going home NOW.what is the meaning of this sentence and why did the writer use past continuous and it’s time? Can you twll the grammar and meaning?

Englishmaven · Accepted Answer

I would never say it, but I've heard people say things like that. What is meant is the following:

We should have left, so if we had done what we should have done, we would already been on the way home by now. So at this time we should have left. If that had happened, we would be gone by now. It's so late, we should be able to say, "We went home." So at this late time, we should be going. The grammar for this is correct.

CalifJim · Answer

Abbas Rajabpour
It’s time we were going home NOW.
What is the meaning of this sentence, and why did the writer use past continuous and "it’s time"?
Can you ~~twll~~ explain the grammar and meaning?

It's time (also It's about time) is an idiom that is used to convey (often in an annoyed manner) that something now happening or about to happen should have happened earlier. It takes the past tense even though it does not reference anything that happened in the past. Here are some examples from fraze.it.

Quite frankly, it's time you learned to cook something besides chicken stir-fry. 
It's time Granholm grabbed the mike and told the people not to believe the hype.
It's a sort of corporate misdirection, and it's time somebody called them on it. 
It's time we started to treat colluding laborers the same way we treat business.
Maybe it's time he walked away from Bristol City FC and left them to die slowly.
For me, it's time we took judge Bob Harvey's advice and embraced the pohutukawa.
I've always wanted to read this book, perhaps it's time I went ahead and did so.
This is a new year, however, and it's time you started to work on those issues.

The same idiom can also take the present tense, though that seems to be used less often.

She's clearly been waiting to tell her side, and it's time we give her a listen.
Mayoral candidate Kevin Acklin said it's time the city updates its contribution.
It's time the players realise they are there to play the game for the supporters.

CJ

It’s time

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