Subjunctive

Question

1. It's high time I realized what I wanted from life.    It's high time I realized what I want from life.2. I wish I knew who I am.    I wish I knew who I were.Which are the correct alternatives ?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Debpriya De1. It's high time I realized what I wanted from life.
It's high time I realized what I want from life.

Both OK. The first focuses on what you wanted from life at some time in the past. The second focuses on what you want from life now.

Debpriya De2. I wish I knew who I am.
I wish I knew who I were.

Both are wrong, but don't feel too bad about it. This one is more difficult.
It's I wish I knew who I was for knowing now who you are now
and I wish I had known who I was for knowing in the past who you were then.

The grammar of wish is quite strange and difficult.

CJ

Cool Breeze · Answer

Debpriya De I wish I knew who I am.

I disagree with Jim on this. I wish has no bearing on the verb in the relative clause. I consider the above sentence correct. This would sound even odder to my ear: I wish I knew who I was -- but I didn't! I wish I knew who I am -- but I don't sounds a lot better.

CB

Cool Breeze · Answer

Cool BreezeI wish has no bearing on the verb in the relative clause.

Oh, dear!

My apologies for that. I should have woken up properly before I wrote that. In my native language relative pronouns and interrogative pronouns arealways completely different words. Who starts an indirect question in the orginal sentence I was commenting on, not a relative clause.

However, I do consider the sentence perfectly grammatical.

CB

Debpriya De · Answer

"I wish I knew what I wanted from life."
In this sentence, the structure is "I wish + past tense" and it refers to the present i.e. what I want from life in the present.
But in "It's high time I realized what I want from life." first we use the past tense in "realized" and then we use the present tense in "want". Why is that ?
I thought both the "I wish" and "It's (high) time" structures were similar as they used the unreal past tense.

CalifJim · Answer

Debpriya DeBut in "It's high time I realized what I want from life." first we use the past tense in "realized" and then we use the present tense in "want". Why is that ?

In ordinary everyday conversation the "high time" expression is a lot more variable than the "wish" expression. Some people use the present with "high time" all the way through the sentence.

It's high time we leave.
It's high time I realize what I want.
It's time he starts saying what he means.

But stick to the past at least for the second verb if you want to follow the textbook rules.
______________

Note that even when the second verb is in the past, the third verb in a nested series of three can be present. You could say that the first clause loses its grip on grammatical governance once you pass the second clause.

It's high time we got a car that works.
It's high time you found a job that pays well.
It's time they manufactured a product that has some appeal in the marketplace.

It depends on the meaning of the second and third verbs, and in a way, their power to suggest a true past. Why would anyone get a car that used to work, as in "a car that worked"? Why would anyone find a job that used to pay well, as in "a job that paid well"? Why would anyone manufacture a product that used to have some appeal, as in "a product that had some appeal"?

In spite of this, you can put the third verb in the past and have a reasonably high expectation that the listener will take it as present or future in meaning. It's just that native speakers don't necessarily always follow the practice of putting the third verb in the past tense.
________

By the way, this may be a regionalism, but where I live we don't use the past subjunctive after "It's (high) time" -- just the past indicative. At least, as accurately as I can remember, that's what I've always heard.

We say It's time I was told the truth -- not It's time I were told the truth; It's time he was in bed -- not It's time he were in bed.

CJ

Oskar Kim · Answer

1.I agree with Jim. And I would like to add that if you are using past tens it's more polite than the present tens. Example: it's time you went home
That use of "went" is subjunctive. It marks the statement as a proposition. You could also use the present tense "go" here, but "It's time for you to go home" would probably be considered less polite.

2.You can't use present tens in the "I wish" construction . That is why I wish I knew who I am is wrong! As for the second sentence it is 100% OK. The construction supposed to be this way, "I wish I knew who I were" means I want to know who I am right now in present. "I,he,She were" sounds much better than "I,he,she was", but "I was" is OK if it's informal English.

Subjunctive

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