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Thread: Subjunctive Verb

  1. #1
    Ferdie11's Avatar
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    Default Subjunctive Verb

    I wish I have the wings to fly.

    Can you please tell me whether the sentence above is correct or not and why?

    Thanks in advance.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Subjunctive Verb

    Quote Originally Posted by Ferdie11 View Post
    I wish I have the wings to fly.

    Can you please tell me whether the sentence above is correct or not and why?

    Thanks in advance.
    You need to say either:

    1) I wish I had the wings to fly.
    2) I wish I could have wings.

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    Hemraj is offline Newbie
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    Default Re: Subjunctive Verb

    Quote Originally Posted by Ferdie11 View Post
    I wish I have the wings to fly.

    Can you please tell me whether the sentence above is correct or not and why?

    Thanks in advance.

    can be said

    I wish, I would have the wings to fly.

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    Default Re: Subjunctive Verb

    Quote Originally Posted by Hemraj View Post
    can be said

    I wish, I would have the wings to fly.
    No

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    Default Re: Subjunctive Verb

    Quote Originally Posted by Hemraj View Post
    can be said

    I wish, I would have the wings to fly.
    The construction 'I wish I would have the...' is perhaps unusual but I don't think it is wrong. I need to do a bit of research.
    Last edited by bhaisahab; 31-Jul-2009 at 06:51.

  6. #6
    svartnik is offline Banned
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    Default Re: Subjunctive Verb

    I cannot think of an example or an explanation that would justify the use of 'would' in the sentence.

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    Default Re: Subjunctive Verb

    Quote Originally Posted by bhaisahab View Post
    The construction 'I wish I would have the...' is perhaps unusual but I don't think it is wrong. I need to do a bit of research.
    I am not offering this as evidence for or against, just for interest:Ryan's linguistics blog: I wish I would have...
    svartnik likes this.

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    Default Re: Subjunctive Verb

    As far as I can discover, it is not as unusual a construction as I thought, in fact it is quite widely used. It is not correct however.

  9. #9
    svartnik is offline Banned
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    Default Re: Subjunctive Verb

    Protasis!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protasis_(linguistics)

    I have been chasing this word for one month and until now it managed to escape me.

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    Default Re: Subjunctive Verb

    Quote Originally Posted by bhaisahab View Post
    I am not offering this as evidence for or against, just for interest:Ryan's linguistics blog: I wish I would have...
    You might be missing an important distinction between the question asked and the construction this blog disucsses.
    Originally Posted by Hemraj
    can be said
    I wish, I would have the wings to fly.

    as you say The construction 'I wish I would have the...'
    This is a present tense construction.

    The blog discusses "I wish I would have ..." as a past tense alternative to "I wish I had" as past tense.
    "I wish I would have gone to the store" instead of "I wish I had gone to the store".

    This is a different use to present/future of "I wish I would have wings" for "I wish I had wings". I have not heard this used for the present tense.

    Put more simply, you can't say that many people would accept:
    "I wish I would have wings" on the basis that many say:
    "I wish I would have gone to the store"

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