1

John wishes he will be richer.

The above sentence is a sentence correction question asked in my exam. I know the bold part is incorrect but I am not able to figure out how to correct it should I use were or should I go for would be ? Although were sounds more natural to me, I tried to google for wish usage and here found both being used in different sentences.

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

Both

1. John wishes he were richer

and

2. John wishes he would be richer

are correct.

However, they mean two different things. 1. refers to the present and 2. refers to the future.

If John's wish about being richer would have referred to the past, as in a regret, the sentence would have had to be written like this:

3. John wishes he had been richer.

As to

*John wishes he will be richer,

this sentence is not correct.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .