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Grammar
Q & A Newsgroup
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Member Posts: 59
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Posted
Hello
I'd like to ask about the verb "hope" and "want." Would you take a look at the following sentences? #1 I hope that my son will be(come) an engineer. #2 I want my son to be(come) an engineer. Can I express the same meaning with #1 and #2? I wonder if I can rewrite #1 to #2. Or does #2 imply "my son" is not an engineer now but "I" wish my son was an engineer? I'll be happy to have some guidance. Thank you. |
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Member Posts: 15168
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Posted
Your sentences are similar in meaning. Both can be used to describe your desire for your son's future career.
"Want" is stronger than "hope" in expressing the desire of its subject, in this case, "I." Both your sentences mean that your son is not an engineer now, but there is a possibility that he will become an engineer in the future. In fact, the speaker is probably thinking about the son's upcoming education in a normal educational time frame. _______ If you say, "I wish my son was/ were an engineer," it means that he is not an engineer now. Maybe he is a teacher, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or a businessman, or an electrician. He has probably passed the normal time for studying for his career. "I wish" would be, in this case, a fantasy, a desire for something in the present to be different from what it really is. Rachel |
