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why on earth should Mrs Ferrars wish to commit suicide?

Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 9:48 am
by masonsouth
In a novel, Mrs Ferrars is dead, but a character says:

-Why on earth should Mrs Ferrars wish to commit suicide?

To refer to a past thing, we use SHOULD HAVE DONE STH; to refer to a dead person, we should use the past tense; so why is the tense: SHOULD MRS FERRARS HAVE WISHED?

Re: why on earth should Mrs Ferrars wish to commit suicide?

Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:20 am
by Alan
Normally, yes, but in this case the speaker is clearly imagining the past situation as a present one for dramatic effect (cf. the use of the historic present).