It's usage

Status
Not open for further replies.

World living kid

New member
Joined
Feb 1, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Swedish
Home Country
Sweden
Current Location
Sweden
Is it possible to say: "it's time they think about it !" ???

i want to mean that it's now that they should start or they will start the action. And i'm using the expression "it's time" and not "it's high time"!
 

probus

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
"it's time they think about it !" is not natural and its meaning is unclear.

If one meant "high time" one ought to have said "It's high time they thought about it", not "think about it."

But if one meant that now is the appropriate time for them to think about something it would be natural to say "Now is the time they should be thinking about it."
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Is it possible to say: "It's time they think about it!"?[STRIKE]??[/STRIKE]

I want to mean that it's now that they should start or they will start the action. And I'm using the expression "It's time" and not "It's high time"!

Welcome to the forum.

In BrE, the following are acceptable:

It's time they thought about it.
It's time they started thinking about it.

Please note my amendments above. Start every new sentence with a capital letter, always capitalise the word "I" and (generally) capitalise the first letter of words which are enclosed in quotation marks. Note that there are exceptions to the last rule.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top