Want Wanted

Question

I changed 'want' to 'wanted' merely to make it sound more polite (affected by this, 'is' was changed to 'was'). Now, should I also change 'know' to 'knew' here?

[1] "I know the past tense sounds most natural in a case like these, but I just want to know if holding the present tense is possible"

[2] "I know the past tense sounds most natural in a case like these, but I just wanted to know if holding the present tense was possible"

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I changed 'want' to 'wanted' merely to make it sound more polite (affected by this, 'is' was changed to 'was'). Now, should I also change 'know' to 'knew' here? Just leave it as 'know'. The 'wanted' by itself is enough to establsh politeness.

[1] "I know the past tense sounds most natural in a case like this ~~these~~, but I just want to know if holding the present tense is possible"

[2] "I know the past tense sounds most natural in a case like this ~~these~~, but I just wanted to know if holding the present tense was possible"

You don't 'hold' a tense. You could say 'keep' or 'retain'.

Clive

HSS · Answer

Thanks, Clive.

Just an aside ... I wrote this on assumption that there were more than one example. Am I still supposed to say 'a case like this,' not 'a case like these'?

My best,

Hiro

Clive · Answer

Hi,

I would usually speak of

a case like this

or

cases like these

Clive

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