past tense of words like "wish","hope", etc.

Question

Hi, I am translating a news article and encounter a past/present tense problem. The following is the sentence in question I originally translated:

Mayor A said he was happy to see these farmers get recognized for their hard work and wished they have more production in the future.

Now, since it is a news article, I need to use past tense throughout the paragraphs, but I am also aware that words such as "wished" and "hoped" misconvey that the actor no longer wishes or hopes for something to happen, which in this case denotes "more production in the future." (I.e., the Mayor always wished for more production in the future) Therefore, should I make an exception for words such as "wish" and "hope" to have present tense so that readers won't be confused?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Sorry, I just realized there is a typo. What I meant is the Mayor always wishes for more production in the future. Hope I don't confuse people even more.

Fivejedjon · Answer

When it is clear that we are dealing with reported speech, then the past tense of 'wish' is correct. The act of wishing reported was expressed in the past, but what was wished for is still in the future. The problem with your sentence is that 'The mayor always wished for more production in the future' seems to express regret that they don't produce enough at present. What you need is something like the following.

The mayor wished them every success in the future.
The mayor hoped that their success would lead to even higher production in the future.

past tense of words like "wish","hope", etc.

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