Because the tenses in B don't make sense. What will his life be? He's dead, nothing will happen, so "will" is not ok here.

The brother of the Titanic's captain asked after the sinking: what should his life have been if he had not been lured into that last, fateful voyage A) what should his life have been if he had not been lured into that last, fateful

In Bryan A. Garner's "Dictionary of Modern American Usage", the set phrase "suffice it to say" is explained to be the subjunctive form of the indicative "it suffices to say". The article on the subjunctive mood in

Both are correct. Personally, I prefer the first with its subjunctive pattern as if ... were ... CJ

1.Is it correct to use "nor" in a sentence like this one:..."don't talk about what I told you in this message nor reply please."- - No. Use 'or'. 2. Only this one uses the normal preposition: "I need an explanation for this.". 3. ..."or maybe

I wish... happened now is not correct. You can say It would be nice if ... happened now or I hope ... happens now or I wish ... would happen now. However, I wish... happened refers to something in the past, not "now" or in the

No, the "happened" doesn't work with "now." I wish something interesting would happen now. I wish something interesting would happen. As Mr. M told you about six times, do NOT use the "anything" version. You are

The grammar of wish is unique. I would not recommend applying the grammatical patterns used with wish in cases where a different verb is used. As for backshifting, it's used all over the place, not only with wish, hope, believe , and not only

OK. So this is equivalent to reported speech where there is a backshift in tense (except that here you use the subjunctive instead of indicative form)? And this is only used when you wish (or hope, believe, etc.) that something were true

I see. (1) Alice is rich, and Bob wishes he were rich. (2) Alice was rich, and Bob wishes he had been rich. (3) Alice has been rich, and Bob wishes he had been rich. (4) Alice had been rich, and Bob wishes he had been rich.