Raymott
VIP Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2008
- Member Type
- Academic
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Australia
- Current Location
- Australia
So, what do you say in the case where "I wish I would have had" is the appropriate tense (in a non-American sense)?Enough, guys.
The FACT is, Americans do say "I wish I would have [past participle]" ...
A: "I wish they would have paid me more if I'd received the promotion."
(A is referring to a job in which they would not have him more if he had received the promotion. He is not saying that he wishes they had paid him more, because he never got the promotion. But he would like to have worked for a company that paid people more when they were promoted.)
B: "I wish my wife would have loved me more if I'd been more attentive to her needs. But now I realise that she was (would have been) incapable of even that."
B is not saying that he wished his wife had loved him more. He is saying that he wished she would have loved him more under the condition mentioned.
Is this distinction possible in American?