Didn't find anything I want/wanted

[B45]

Can you say- I went to the mall yesterday but I didn't find anything I wanted/want.
A. What if the thing you're looking for has been found. Id use wanted.
B. What if the thing you're looking for has not been found. Id use want.

Can you say- I paid for LASIK surgery all by myself without my parents help.

 

[Raymott]

Can you say- I went to the mall yesterday but I didn't find anything I wanted[STRIKE]/want[/STRIKE]. We'd normally use 'wanted' even if we still want it.
A. What if the thing you're looking for has been found. Id use wanted. What's 'Id'?. In any case, there'd be no point saying "I didn't find anything I wanted" if you actually found it.
B. What if the thing you're looking for has not been found. Id use want. 'Wanted' would be more common in most cases. If you're planning to go to the mall again today, looking for the same stuff, 'want' would make more sense.

Can you say- I paid for LASIK surgery all by myself without my parents help.

You can delete "all by myself" without any loss. Or you could delete "without my parents help" and keep "all by myself". "I paid for the LASIK surgery myself" would normally suffice.

 

[B45]

You can delete "all by myself" without any loss. Or you could delete "without my parents help" and keep "all by myself". "I paid for the LASIK surgery myself" would normally suffice.

Can you say- I went to the mall yesterday but I didn't find anything I wanted/want. We'd normally use wanted, because this is a past tense sentence, so it's grammatically to stay in the same tense?


Can you say- I paid for LASIK surgery all by myself without my parents help. - Is this wrong or unnatural sounding?

 

[Raymott]

Can you say- I went to the mall yesterday but I didn't find anything I wanted/want. We'd normally use wanted, because this is a past tense sentence, so it's grammatically to stay in the same tense?


Can you say- I paid for LASIK surgery all by myself without my parents help. - Is this wrong or unnatural sounding?

1. Yes, basically. You were at the mall yesterday, you wanted it yesterday, and you didn't find it yesterday. It may or may not be relevant that you still want it.
2. It sounds like something a child would say. It's not wrong in itself. It's redundant though. If you paid for it all by yourself, then why bother listing the people who didn't pay for it?

 

[B45]

1. Yes, basically. You were at the mall yesterday, you wanted it yesterday, and you didn't find it yesterday. It may or may not be relevant that you still want it.
2. It sounds like something a child would say. It's not wrong in itself. It's redundant though. If you paid for it all by yourself, then why bother listing the people who didn't pay for it?

2. My son's proud that he used his savings to pay for the surgery instead of taking our money.

 

[Rover_KE]

If you insist on writing "...without my parents' help", the apostrophe is essential.