I know that wish + could/would is used to refer to future. Now, if the job of wishing took place in the past, do we still use could/would or we change it?
I wished I could take her to Turkey, when I looked at her excited face.
-
You are absolutely right!– Maulik VCommented Oct 15, 2015 at 5:22
Add a comment
|
3 Answers
If the verb wish is in the past we still use could/would but the meaning would change thusly:
I wished I could take her to Turkey.
which is quite equivalent to:
I wish I could have taken her to Turkey.
means that now you describe your regret about that past event.
If the present of wish is used:
I wish I could take her to Turkey.
means that now you express your feelings about this situation which refers to future events.
answered Oct 15, 2015 at 11:00
I think the tense is correct since as you said, the "wishing" was in the past. Additionally the "taking to Turkey" was not yet done at the time - this is the future tense that the sentence was referring to, not the wishing.
Based on your sentence, I think that you could have used wished + could have + past participle of the verb. Your sentence gave off the impression of "what could have been" when you talked about the look that you saw in your face.
In any case, I would suggest going to this discussion of the usage of "could have" in sentences.
