I wish they offered/ would offer me pay rise

Status
Not open for further replies.

duiter

Member
Joined
May 22, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Indonesian
Home Country
Malaysia
Current Location
Indonesia
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

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Ireland
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

VIP Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
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

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2010
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Ukraine
Why is (1) not acceptable if said without any trace of annoyance or regret?

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

TheParser

VIP Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
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

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
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

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2010
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Ukraine
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

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
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.
 

TheParser

VIP Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
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!
 

bhaisahab

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Ireland
For my 40-something years of BrE, it's always been a "pay rise". If you remove the word "pay", then "raise" is fine.

Can I have a pay rise?
Can I have a raise?
I'm not doing very well this evening. I meant that I didn't notice the missing "a", I agree with ems about "pay rise".
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
) 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!
Yes
 

Nightmare85

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
German
Home Country
Germany
Current Location
Germany
TheParser, still awake or already awoken? :)
(I was not sure how to write it.)

It is 01:13 pm in Germany now.
What is your time? :-D

P.S: Sorry for the off-topic.

Cheers!
 

TheParser

VIP Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
TheParser, still awake or already awoken? :)
(I was not sure how to write it.)

It is 01:13 pm in Germany now.
What is your time? :-D

P.S: Sorry for the off-topic.

Cheers!


NOT A TEACHER


(1) It is now 5:25 a.m. in California. I got up today at 2 a.m.

(2) Next week, we have to set our clocks back one hour.

(3) We have a fun way to remember this. You have to understand that the word "spring" can refer to the season or it can be a verb meaning something like "to jump''; the word "fall" can refer to the season of autumn or it can be a verb meaning something like "drop." So we say:

Spring forward, fall back.

(= When the season of spring comes, we turn our clocks one hour ahead; when the season of autumn comes, we turn our clocks one hour back.) :lol:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top