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It's time we "should" go home.

English translation: Yes, it is grammatical.

18:30 Sep 3, 2009

English to English translations [Non-PRO]
Linguistics / Colloquialism?

English term or phrase: It's time we "should" go home.

Is that gramatically acceptable anyway? I mean, there's a song (Wishing on a star) that goes (...) I think it's time we should make up...
Some grammar literature available recognizing this pattern, so to speak, as standard, even from a colloquial point of view?
Thanks.

FNO
Brazil

English translation:Yes, it is grammatical.

Explanation:
This is fine grammatically. Its competitor "it's time that we go home" is also grammatical (and generally preferred in formal contexts).

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Note added at 5 mins (2009-09-03 18:36:09 GMT)
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NB: "It's time for us to go home" is probably the most common way of expressing this general idea in most vernacular English varieties.

Selected response from:

Richard McDorman
United States
Local time: 20:49

Grading comment

Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

5 +11

Yes, it is grammatical.

Richard McDorman

3 +8

it's time we went home

Lonnie Legg

Summary of reference entries provided

See

Alexander Ryshow

This construction exists in both US and UK English

Jim Tucker

It's time...

cmwilliams

Answers

4 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +11

it's time we "should" go home.

Yes, it is grammatical.

Richard McDorman
United States
Local time: 20:49
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 8

Grading comment

Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Jim Tucker: Also "It's time we went home" ; "It's time we were going home"

10 mins

-> Oh, the possibilities... Thanks, Jim!

agree

JangF

20 mins

-> Thank you.

agree

Jack Doughty

26 mins

-> Thanks, Jack.

neutral

Helen Genevier: I don't know if it's a UK/US difference, but it sounds odd to me and begs to be expressed as it's time we went home or were going

30 mins

-> Thanks, Helen. I agree that it may not be the best option, but the asker's question had to do with grammaticality, not style.

agree

Olga Bogdanov

1 hr

-> Thanks, Olga.

agree

danya: I'd venture saying that the option with "should" is met more often in the UK usage, is it?

1 hr

-> I would imagine so, although there are certainly more stylistically sound options (as proffered above by other contributors) in all English dialects.

agree

Andycarruk: Sounds perfectly OK to me, if a little archaic. Expresses more than "it's time we went home" since it also indicates unwillingness to do so and that the obligation derives from propriety, not inclination.

2 hrs

-> Thanks, Andy.

agree

Tony M: Yes, and especially with Andy's analysis

3 hrs

-> Thanks very much, Tony.

neutral

Polangmar: Has the English grammar changed and "it's time (that) we go" is correct?

4 hrs

-> "It's time that we go" has always been grammatically correct, back to the Old English period.

disagree

cmwilliams: This is not grammatically correct.

4 hrs

agree

writeaway: I've heard this in spoken English (I think it's time we should be going etc). Not so sure it's used in written English

5 hrs

-> Thanks a lot.

agree

Yasutomo Kanazawa: Hear and see this very often

6 hrs

-> Thank you very much.

agree

Liam Hamilton

14 hrs

-> Thanks, Liam.

agree

Goldcoaster

19 hrs

-> Thank you!

neutral

Cilian O'Tuama: I'd instintively disagree (if it hadn't been for writeaway's comment). Colloquial sure, but...

1 day6 hrs

-> Well, it appears that with so much debate about this, for at least some speakers, the construction is of questionable grammaticality.

agree

Jeanette Phillips

4 days

-> Thanks, Jeanette.

50 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +8

it's time we "should" go home. it's time we went home

Explanation:
I can't give a strict grammatical explanation, but "should" seems wrong. (The other variants given here, on the other hand, are correct.)
My simple explanation why it sort of works--i.e. works as lyrics, e.g.--is that it sounds like: "it's time. We should go home." As two sentences, fine.
Isn't it a bit like "It's important to eat/that we eat/for us to eat."?

Lonnie Legg
Germany
Local time: 02:49
Native speaker of:

English,

German

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Armorel Young: Although it's hard to pinpoint a reason why "it's time we should" is wrong, it sounds very odd and you'd get some strange looks if you used it in conversation

56 mins

agree

Helen Genevier

1 hr

disagree

Andycarruk: The main reason is that it's a slightly archaic though perfectly grammatical. A breath from a bygone age, not to be scorned. Re-arrange the sentence - We should go home, it's time. The OED says "ought to as the right or suitable thing"

1 hr

-> Thanks, Andy. Can you give a reliable (archaic or not) written source?

agree

Annett Kottek: Wrong on so many levels. I totally agree with the full stop. The acceptable form would be: ‘It’s time we should be going [i.e. leaving]’ - - without the home (meaning ‘it’s time to leave’). Or else: 'It’s late, we should go home’.

1 hr

neutral

Tony M: I really don't think there's anything wrong with it, even if it possibly isn't the commonest way it would be expressed; there's nothing at all wrong with "it's time we should be going", it's just we're not so used to hearing it with 'home' on the end

2 hrs

agree

cmwilliams: yes, definitely - the past tense is used here.

3 hrs

agree

Polangmar

3 hrs

agree

Yasutomo Kanazawa: this is also grammatically correct

5 hrs

agree

Christine Andersen: Went sounds much better to me than should. Rephrase perhaps as 'we should be going home now'... The apparent past tense is a vestige of a conjunctive, that English has lost - we are not going (yet), but we should be.

16 hrs

agree

Judith Hehir: with Christine re: subjunctive.

21 hrs

agree

Jeanette Phillips

4 days

Reference comments

5 mins peer agreement (net): +1

Reference: See

Reference information:
http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/linguistics/70455-its-time...

Alexander Ryshow
Belarus
Native speaker of:

Russian

1 hr

Reference: This construction exists in both US and UK English

Reference information:
Here's a UK reference, from an MP's blog:

With the increasing diversity of cultures and religions in Swindon it’s important we should debate, discuss and celebrate what people living in our country share and have in common.

http://www.annesnelgrove.co.uk/blog?Period=June2009

Jim Tucker
United States
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 24

4 hrs peer agreement (net): +3

Reference: It's time...

Reference information:
This is similar to the construction "I'd rather..." and is always followed by the simple past.

It's time we went.

We are using It's time... here to say that something is not happening, but it should be happening. Compare also the following:

It's time we left. Our son will be home soon and he doesn't have a house key.

It's about time you started looking for a job. You can't depend on us all the time. It's high time you started to fend for yourself.

Note that it's not possible to use this structure in negative sentences. We cannot say: It's high time you didn't depend on your parents any more. But we can use the construction it's time to or it's time for + object + to as alternatives to the unreal use of past forms to express this idea:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/le...

I'd rather and it's time...

These two expressions are also followed by an unreal past. The verb is in the past tense, but the situation is in the present.

When we want to talk about a course of action we would prefer someone else to take, we use I'd rather + past tense:

* I'd rather you went
* He'd rather you called the police
* I'd rather you didn't hunt elephants.

NOTE: the stress can be important in these sentences, to show what our preference is:

* I'd rather you went = not me,
* I'd rather you went = don't stay
* He'd rather you called the police = he doesn't want to
* He'd rather you called the police = not the ambulance service

Similarly, when we want to say that now is a suitable moment to do something, either for ourselves or for someone else, we use it's time + past tense:

* It's (high) time I went.
* It's time you paid that bill.
* Don't you think it's time you had a haircut?

http://www.edufind.com/English/Grammar/IF10.cfm

cmwilliams
United Kingdom
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4