I wish they offered/ would offer me pay rise

[duiter]

Dear all,

which one is more natural and correct ?
what is the difference of meaning ?

I wish they offered me pay rise

I wish they would offer me pay rise


Many thanks

[bhaisahab]

Dear all,

which one is more natural and correct ?
what is the difference of meaning ?

I wish they offered me pay rise.

I wish they would offer me pay rise.


Many thanks

Only the second one is correct.

[TheParser]

[QUOTE=duiter;818928]

I wish they would offer me a pay rise



NOT A TEACHER


(1) Just a gentle reminder that in American English, one says "a pay raise."

[Verona_82]

Why is (1) not acceptable if said without any trace of annoyance or regret?

Edit: Oh, I got it. It's about the future.

[TheParser]

Why is (1) not acceptable if said without any trace of annoyance or regret?

Edit: Oh, I got it. It's about the future.

NOT A TEACHER


(1) Yet the great Professor Quirk says that we can say either:

I wish that Mona visited me more often.

I wish that Mona would visit me more often.

(2) I hope that a teacher will explain why we cannot say either:

I wish that the boss offered/ would offer me a pay raise.

Or can we ???

[5jj]

In your first example you are expressing regret that Mona does not visit you more often, in the second that she will not vist you more often. In your third example you are unlikely to regret that your boss does not ( regularly) ofer you a rise.

[Verona_82]

I got confused at first because I (mistakenly?) believed a past tense after 'wish' could also be used with a future meaning. Well, we do use a past tense when we have a future action/situation in mind in if-clauses, don't we? (What would you do if you lost your job?) By the way, I noticed few books write about the usage of wish+would to talk about the future; most of them focus on expressing annoyance/regret.

[5jj]

It's possible to use a past tense after 'wish' with future meaning. Compare these two, expressing regret that someone is scheduled to come next week, not tomorrow:

1. I wish Peter came tomorrow.
2. I wish Peter would come tomorrow.

In #1, the speaker is seeing Peter's non-arrival tomorrow as being almost as scheduled as his arrival next week - he comes next week; he doesn't come tomorrow.. The backshifting for the wish results in the past simple of #1.

In #2, the speaker is seeing Peter's non-arrival as being a result of his wish or determination to arrive next week, or of the certainty of his arrival next week. - he will arrive next; he won't arrive tomorrow. The backshifying for the the wish results in the would come of #2.

In real life, the speaker is probably not consciously analysing the situation in the way that I have above, and there is no great difference in the meaning of the two utterances in practice.

We can see, however, that it is unlikely for the boss's non-offering of a rise in the example in earlier posts to be seen as scheduled in any way.

[bhaisahab]

[QUOTE=TheParser;818935]

I wish they would offer me a pay rise



NOT A TEACHER


(1) Just a gentle reminder that in American English, one says "a pay raise."

In BrE too, I missed that. Thanks Parser.

[TheParser]

In your third example you are unlikely to regret that your boss does not ( regularly) ofer you a rise.

NOT A TEACHER


(1) Thank you, Teacher 5jj, for the wonderful explanation. I have printed it out and added it to my notes.

(2) IF I understand you, then, we could use the hypothetical past or the hypothetical

"would" in the following situation:

Mona: I have the best boss in the world.

Joe: How so?

Mona: She gives me a pay raise every three months as long as I do a good job.

Joe: Really? Wow! I wish my boss gave/ would give me a pay raise every three months. I'm lucky if she gives me a pay raise every five years!