Teleostomi  +  274463 Sat, 30 Sep 06 09:05 AM (a) I wonder if she'll come. (b) I wonder if she comes. Question (1): Is (b) a wrong sentence? Question (2): I think (a) mostly means "I want to know if she comes." But can it also mean "I doubt that she comes."? Teleostomi Joined on Sat, Jun 10 2006 Regular Member 557

	milky  +  274465 Sat, 30 Sep 06 09:20 AM  Teleostomi wrote: (a) I wonder if she'll come. (b) I wonder if she comes. Question (1): Is (b) a wrong sentence? Question (2): I think (a) mostly means "I want to know if she comes." But can it also mean "I doubt that she comes."? "B" is not incorrect if the word "come" is slang for orgasm there, but I doubt it is. It could be literal and refer to a habitual situation. "A" can express doubt, yes.  There would be stress on ""I" and "wonder" in such cases. milky Joined on Thu, Jan 15 2004 Senior Member 3,149 Hume said that if we had perfect or complete descriptive knowledge of reality, we could not, by reasoning, derive a single valid "ought".

	Mister Micawber  +  274466 Sat, 30 Sep 06 09:22 AM #1 is fine-- a musing on the future.  I wonder if she'll come here next Tuesday night. #2 has no such specific meaning for me; it is simply a musing on habit*.  I wonder if she comes here every Tuesday night. The use of the phrase I wonder if seems to me to be independent of the tense of the dependent clause. *NB:  this includes any use of come as vulgar slang. Mister Micawber Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004 Yokohama Veteran Member 30,754 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.' Tenses, Clauses