[General] I wished ~

Hello,

My grammar book offers the example "I wish he were rich" to explain
the use of the word "were" in the sentence.
The example "I wish he had been rich" also appears there.

But I'm beginning to wonder if the following sentence makes sense.
ex) I wished he were rich.

If so, what would be the difference in meaning between the two sentences
"I wish he were rich" and "I wished he were rich"?

forinfo said:

Hello,

My grammar book offers the example "I wish he were rich" to explain
the use of the word "were" in the sentence.
The example "I wish he had been rich" also appears there.

But I'm beginning to wonder if the following sentence makes sense.
ex) I wished he were rich.

If so, what would be the difference in meaning between the two sentences
"I wish he were rich" and "I wished he were rich"?

Click to expand...

"wish" structures don't require the agreement of tenses.
I wish he were rich implies the present. (today)
I wished he were rich implies the past. (for example, in 1966)

"I wish he had been rich" implies that he wasn't rich. (for example, in 1966)
If you say "I wished he had been rich", with "had been", as you can see, still there, it will imply that, say, I wished (in 1967) he had been rich (in 1966).

Bennevis said:

"wish" structures don't require the agreement of tenses.
I wish he were rich implies the present. (today)
I wished he were rich implies the past. (for example, in 1966)

"I wish he had been rich" implies that he wasn't rich. (for example, in 1966)
If you say "I wished he had been rich", with "had been", as you can see, still there, it will imply that, say, I wished (in 1967) he had been rich (in 1966).

Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply. It was very helpful. :-D