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 #17 (permalink) Sat May 30, 2009 10:10 am American English: It is (high) time (that) |
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| Quote: |
1. It is (high) time (that) I went now. [universally acceptable, current English]
2. It is (high) time (that) I should go now. [old-fashioned, British English]
3. It is (high) time (that) I go now. [old-fashioned, American English]
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How about this one:
4. It is (high) time to go now.
Is it correct too? |
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 Comeon
New Member
Joined: 19 Feb 2009
Posts: 3
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| #18 (permalink) Sat May 30, 2009 11:09 am American English: It is (high) time (that) |
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That sounds fine too, Comeon. The infinitive is an alternative
structure here.
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Mister Micawber
Language Coach
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 7445
Location: Yokohama, Japan
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| #19 (permalink) Sun May 31, 2009 7:48 am [American English] It is (high) time (that) |
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| Mister Micawber wrote: |
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Me too (and mine is AmE) -- only the hypothetical past as in #1. Note that the subjunctive is not used with this fixed phrase, either: It's high time I was / (X) were going.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive
To give another example, "It is high time that we bought a new car". Although bought appears to be the past tense of the verb to buy, actually the car has not been purchased yet. Here, the past subjunctive is used to express a wish or a suggestion.
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Thank you very much for your reply. |
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Sitifan
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 259
Location: Taiwan
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| Alternatives for make noises | "the rest part" vs "the remaining part" |
