In this episode of the All Ears English podcast, the hosts explore how to express that something is overdue using the subjunctive mood in English. They clarify that the subjunctive, like in the phrase "It's time he went to bed," employs the past tense to indicate a present action that needs to happen, which can be a bit tricky. To make it easier, they present three alternative ways to convey the same idea: using an infinitive ("It's time to go to bed"), the phrase "for" ("It's time for him to go to bed"), or the expression "high time" with any of these constructions to highlight the urgency. The episode underscores that while understanding the subjunctive is important, it's perfectly fine to use these alternatives, emphasizing the value of communication over strict grammatical rules.
