it was high time i had gone to college

[allthewayanime]

Could I use the past perfect after the main clause if I want to imply that it was time for him to have gone to college ?




e.g It was high time he had gone to college.

 

[5jj]

We'd normally say just: "It was time he went to college"

 

[allthewayanime]

Then the past perfect isn't used with this expression?

 

[5jj]

No

 

[BobK]

No

... but it might happen, if the speaker's mental sentence were 'It's high time he had left home... By now he should surely have gone to college[?]' - and s/he just didn't say the words in red - leaving a 'sentence' with the wrong tense. (I've said this before, and I'm sure I'll say it again: the grammar of spoken English tends to be a mangled version of two or three 'candidate' sentences). ;-)

b

 

[allthewayanime]

But if I want to say it this way, is it wrong?

1.It was high time he had gone to college.(meaning that he should already have gone.)

Because when I say :

2.It was high time he went to college (would mean he should go now.)

 

[5jj]

... but it might happen, if the speaker's mental sentence were 'It's high time he had left home... By now he should surely have gone to college[?]' - and s/he just didn't say the words in red - leaving a 'sentence' with the wrong tense.

But is it acceptable to say "It's high time he had left home"? I don't think it is. For me, "it's (high) time ..." can be followed only by something that must be done after the utterance.

 

[JohnParis]

But if I want to say it this way, is it wrong?

1.It was high time he had gone to college.(meaning that he should already have gone.) No, this is not correct and it doesn't mean that he should already have gone.

Because when I say :

2.It was high time he went to college (would mean he should go now.) Sorry, this too is incorrect. If you want to say that he should go to college now, it would be something like 'It's high time he goes to college or It's high time he leaves for...

It was high time he went to college means, simply, it was time that he left for college ... it was his time to leave for college.
John

 

[5jj]

JohnParis: If you want to say that he should go to college now, it would be something like 'It's high time he goes to college or It's high time he leaves for...

5JJ: "It's (high) time he went.."has a similar meaning to: "It is (high) time for him to go".

"It's high time he goes ..." is not natural in my variety of English.

 

[~Mav~]

*** NOT A TEACHER ***

"It's (high) time he went.."has a similar meaning to: "It is (high) time for him to go".

1.)

I seem to remember reading somewhere that there is (may be) a slight difference in the meaning:

a) It's time for him to leave. = The correct time has arrived.

b) It's time he went. = It's already a bit late.


2.)

I assume that the OP wants to know if it can be "backshifted". Eg.:

He says it is time he went. :tick: ---> He said it was time he had gone. :cross:

I am almost 100% certain that in this case the verb form remains the same. (That is, "He said it was time he went." :tick: )

 

[5jj]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that there is (may be) a slight difference in the meaning:

a) It's time for him to leave. = The correct time has arrived.
b) It's time he went. = It's already a bit late.

That's my feeling. I was a little too brief in my last post.

He says it is time he went. :tick: ---> He said it was time he had gone. :cross:

I am almost 100% certain that in this case the verb form remains the same. (That is, "He said it was time he went." :tick: )

I agree.

 

[BobK]

But is it acceptable to say "It's high time he had left home"? I don't think it is. For me, "it's (high) time ..." can be followed only by something that must be done after the utterance.

I think so, but as an abbreviation of 'It's high time things were in a condition characterized by, among other things, his having left'.

b