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Mojtaba vahdati Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

Wish + past perfect continuous

What's the meaning of this sentence really?

I wish he hadn't been driving so fast.

Is this referring to a present moment or a past time? (I think to the present moment.)

Is there also any other ways for saying the same thing? how about these ones(I know the meanings of these three):

I wish he wouldn't drive so fast.(present)

I wish he hadn't driven so fast.(past)

I wish he wasn't driving so fast.(present)

All I can find about "wish sentences' rules" only consider to explain the simpler structures, and there's this annoying question about the meaning of "wish + past perfect progressive" going around in my head. My own guess is that some structures are grammatical, and maybe even they are referring to the same time, but the only fact is that some other of them are not in-use by the natives and so majority of the course books prefer to neglect mentioning them. Am I right in my guess?

  

Top answer

mojtaba vahdati I wish he hadn't been driving so fast. You are talking about an event which has been completed (hence 'hadn't been') but was ongoing at the time (hence 'driving'). You could be referring to an event which happened yesterday, when he crashed his car.

— David Hatton

  • mojtaba vahdati I wish he hadn't been driving so fast.
  • You are talking about an event which has been completed (hence 'hadn't been') but was ongoing at the time (hence 'driving').
  • You could be referring to an event which happened yesterday, when he crashed his car.
  • He was driving fast and that caused the crash.
  • You wish that, prior to crashing, he had not been driving so fast.
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1 Answers
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mojtaba vahdatiI wish he hadn't been driving so fast.

You are talking about an event which has been completed (hence 'hadn't been') but was ongoing at the time (hence 'driving').

You could be referring to an event which happened yesterday, when he crashed his car. He was driving fast and that caused the crash. You wish that, prio

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