Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

PRESENT TIME REFERENCES WITH THE PAST TENSE 

343

As seen in 341 above, for reasons of indirectness and politeness, the past simple

and the past progressive may sometimes be used with present-time reference,

especially with verbs such as be, hope, look for, think, want, wonder:

[on the phone to train timetable enquiries]

Actually I 

wanted to check if there’s a twenty-five-past train.

[at a cosmetics counter in a store, enquiring about face protection products; A

is the customer]

A: What’s the best kind? 

B: Probably just a very light liquid. 

A: Right. I was looking for one for the cold weather, you know. 

[customer in a travel agent’s]

We 

were wondering about going to Amsterdam. We were wanting to stay in

tents or in a caravan or in a bed and breakfast, to sort of see what the different

prices 

were. 

[dry cleaner’s store: customer (B) is leaving a jacket for cleaning]

A: Right. What was the name please?

B: Smith.

✪

Be

is not used in the past tense form in this way to comment on the immediate

situation:

[dinner guest to host, at the moment of tasting a fish dish]

A: Mm. This fish is delicious.

B: Thank you. I’m glad you like it.

(This fish was delicious.)