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it's high time you {past perfect} something

English Language & Usage Asked on August 18, 2021

I know that usually it should be “It’s high time someone did something.”

However, what about “the past perfect”? Is it possible to use? If yes, when should it be done and for what effect?

“It’s high time someone had done something.”

Here are examples from literature:

It was high time he had written, Dick thought; it was high time he had come.

Lieutenant Stewart replied, in substance, that the British officers had too long trampled on the rights and liberties of his countrymen, and it was high time they had learned to respect the rights and persons of an independent nation.

I told him, it was high time he had ended the course he was pursuing.

One Answer

In a comment, John Lawler wrote:

These all have past tense It was high time (that) .., not present tense It's. Naturally, if the present form requires a past tense in its complement, a past form requires a past perfect tense in its complement. In each case, the complement refers to a time that is before the time referred to in the main clause.

Answered by tchrist on August 18, 2021

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