Hello dear teachers.
I have a feeling that the part in bold in the following sentence is wrong:-? Am I right?
He went on to say that it is high time for the Board of governers to focus on assurance of supply by initiating sincere negotiations to come up with a legally binding measure on assuring access to a fuel supply, a view that is also shared by many analysits.
Thanks.
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
Mr. Mckane,
(1) Mr. Raymond Murphy
in Grammar in Use has some information
that may be helpful.
(2) It is time
for someone to do something.
It means exactly what it says:
It's time to go home. = It's time
for us to go home. (My example:
It's 5 p.m. at work. Let's stop working. It's time (for us) to go home.
See you tomorrow.)
(3) It is time/ high time
(that) someone did something.
Mr. Murphy says:
We use this structure ... especially when we are complaining
or criticizing. His example: It's time
(that) the government did
something about pollution.
Mr. Murphy says that "
high time
" makes "time" even stronger.
(NOTE: He does not use the word "that" in his examples. I included
"that" in parentheses because most books say that the complete
sentence includes "that." In speech, however, many people leave it
out -- as Mr. Murphy has.)
***** CONCLUSIONS *****
(1) It is time (no "high")
for the Board of Governers
to focus on the
problem. = Ok, everyone. We had agreed last week to discuss the
problem today. Today has arrived. Let's start focusing on the
subject, shall we?
(2) It is (high) time
(that) the Board of Governors
focused on the
problem. = The Board of Governors should already have focused on the
problem. The Board has wasted a lot of time. C'mon, everybody.
Stop wasting more time. You really have to start focusing now!!!
I am guessing that this is what your sentence means.
My source:
Raymond Murphy with Roann Altman,
Grammar in Use/ Reference and
Practice For Intermediate Students of English (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1990).