Tense marking has to be 'doubled' to get subjunctive meaning: Hypothetical statements or wishes about the present can be expressed in either basic-verb form or past-tense verb form (at least after 'would' clauses). To get irrealis statements about the past, you use past perfect: 1. I would prefer that we wait a little longer. 2. I would prefer that we waited a little longer. (This is not a statement about the past; it's a statement of a preference about the present.) 3. I would prefer that we had waited a little longer. (This is a statement about the past; something that the speaker wishes had happened but it didn't happen.) The last sentence sounds a bit weird to me with the first clause in the present, but it still is a meaningful sentence to me. Anybody share these intuitions? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics English Department, California Polytechnic State University One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-259 • E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ** "Understanding is a lot like sex; it's got a practical purpose, but that's not why people do it normally" - Frank Oppenheimer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~