When we talk about something that happened in the past, we use
the past tense. However, there are also times when we use the
past tense to express something else. a). To express a wish A
wish is not something that happened in the past, but we need to
use the past tense. I wish I had a car. (I do not have a car.)
He wishes he won the lottery. In the above sentences, the past
tense has nothing to do with the past time. b). In the sentence
pattern “It’s time …” When “It’s time” followed by a clause, the
past tense is used in the clause. It’s time we left. It’s time
we took design seriously. It’s time you sold your old car. Here
we are not talking about what happened in the past. If I say
“It’s time you sold your old car.” to you, you still have your
car, and you are driving it. c). To show politeness Sometimes we
use the past tense because we want to be polite. The past tense
is more polite than the present tense. I wonder if you can come
to dinner tonight. I wondered if you could come to dinner
tonight. I was w