<p>Before the curtain rose, Anthony wished that he were back in bed, only dreaming about performing in front of hundreds of strangers rather than actually doing it.</p>
<p>why is this sentence correct? should it be "Anthony wished that he had been back in bed" because this is the subjunctive mood of the past tense.
help!</p>
<p>“had been” has nothing to do with the subjunctive mood. The past subjunctive in this case is “were,” so the original sentence (“…Anthony wished that he were back in bed…”) is correct.</p>
<p>“had been” is the past perfect tense, which often means that it is used to differentiate two past actions: I woke up at noon. I had been sleeping for hours.</p>
<p>Present subjunctive: “God bless you!” (instead of “God blesses you!”)
Past subjunctive: “I wish I were rich.” (instead of “I wish I was rich.”)</p>
<p>oh thank you but I’m still kind of confused. “If you had done your homework, you wouldn’t have been yelled by the teacher.” is the “had done…” subjunctive mood then?
thanks a lot</p>
<p>No it’s the past perfect tense. The sentence is saying that completing the homework is further in the past than the teacher yelling.</p>
<p>Oh i get it now! Thanks a lot!</p>