Unreal time: it's high time, would rather and as if

The idea

A past form can show a distance from reality, not a distance in time. The present becomes the past simple, and the past becomes the past perfect.

It's time and it's high time

Use it's (high) time + subject + a past form for something that should have been done already. High adds urgency. See also Should, ought to and had better: advice and expectation.

• It's time you found a job.
• It's high time we left.

You can also use the to-infinitive with no second subject: It's time to leave.

Would rather with a different subject

When the subject of would rather is the same in both parts, use the base verb: I'd rather stay. When the subjects are different, use a past form.

• I'd rather you didn't use my laptop. now or later
• I'd rather he had told me. about the past
• I'd rather walk. same subject, base verb

As if and as though

A past form after as if or as though can show distance from reality: the comparison is imagined or not true in this context. The same past form can also describe a real past event, so the context decides. A present form shows the comparison may really be true. As though has the same meaning. As if is more common.

• He talks as if he made the rules, but he does not. the but-clause makes the comparison unreal here
• It looks as if it is going to rain. it really might
• He looked as though he had been running, but he had been asleep in bed all morning. he had not been running

Wish and if only

See Wish and if only: wishes about now, the past and the future for the same system with wishes, and The second conditional: unreal situations now or in the future for imagined conditions.

What comes next

See Wish and if only: wishes about now, the past and the future, The second conditional: unreal situations now or in the future, Should, ought to and had better: advice and expectation and Would: forms, wishes, requests and past meanings.