Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[ClarissaMach]

"I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can".

Why in this case it was not necessary use "got" instead of "get"?
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Stormy Weather.

[CP]

He's using the infinitive, "to get," which is correct. You can't make an infinitive with "got," which is the past tense.

Even if the sentence were in the past tense, he would use "to get":

"I decided that it was high time to get to sea as soon as I could."
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[ClarissaMach]

I don't understand! I was taught that, in this kind of construction ("It's hight time..."), we should always use the past tense!

I still remember the examples used at my English course book:

"It is high time you went to bed".

Where did I go wrong?
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Stormy Weather.

[redset]

I agree with you actually Clarissa - the phrase doesn't sound right with an infinitive following it. I just checked my textbook and it only refers to the form using the past tense. It's possible some people use it with the infinitive, but it sounds very awkward to me.

[ClarissaMach]

I picked up the phrase from "Moby *beep*".

I'm confused now. . . .
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Stormy Weather.

[redset]

Haha well, language changes and that novel was written 150 years ago, so it's possible that the infinitive version was in wider use then - or maybe it's a case of artistic licence, the author worrying more about the sound and flow of the language than being grammatically correct. It's possible that the infinitive version is in wide use (this is why it's good to get a variety of opinions here!), but I haven't personally encountered it before and it does sound wrong to me. In your own writing, I'd personally stick with the past tense version. CP probably has some other insights too.

[CP]

Well, it seems it is high time for me to justify using an infinitive instead of the past tense. I think old Herman M. did no violence to the language by using it the way he did, but I won't argue with Redset and Ms. Clarissa's position, that the more usual construction is to use the past tense.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[pugachevV]

He's using an infinitive phrase, so to get is correct. He could also have said, to go to sea. In that sort of construction you have to use the infinitive
If you say, it's high time we went to sea you are not using an infinitive phrase, so it's OK.

[ClarissaMach]

So it means that there is a difference between "It is high time" and "I account it high time"?

Unfortunately, I'm still not sure about when should I use infinitive/past tense. . . I appreciate the efforts you teachers are doing to help me out. . . .

(RedSet, I'm already usign the rules you gave me about ellipsis. . . it's very different from Portuguese!).
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Stormy Weather.

[redset]

'I account it high time' just means 'I think that it's high time' or 'I decide it's high time' - it's just stating an opinion really.

I think the fact that there's confusion between us about exactly which you can say shows that there's no definitive rule. I'd say that it's possible the infinitive version can be used, but I know for sure that the past tense version is correct, so to be safe I'd just use that one for now. They both mean the same thing, so don't worry about having to use them in different situations.

I'm a huge ellipsis fan, but don't overdo them They're usually used formally to show that some speech is missing or has been removed, people use them informally to show that their thoughts are trailing off or to imply there's more that could be said, but this usage really annoys some people...