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Old January 24, 2018, 07:42 PM
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AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is online now
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The past subjunctive is the grammatically correct agreement with "tenía la esperanza de que".
When you use this expression, it means that you had been hoping for something in the past, so it either happened or not, but you don't hope anymore for something that still could happen; so the present subjunctive is not appropriate because it corresponds to something that is still possible, and the present indicative makes no sense.

So:
-Tenía la esperanza de que al menos se quedaría en el Ministerio. -> They didn't keep the job.
-Tengo la esperanza de que al menos se quede en el Ministerio. -> They might still keep the job.

I've noticed that in some regions in South America the past subjunctive is disappearing to be replaced by the present subjunctive, so they might say "tenía la esperanza de que se quede...", even when this is something that did not happen, but this is not a generalized usage.


As for: "Tenía la esperanza de que usted puede ser que crecer en esta casa", it doesn't make any sense. "Puede ser que" needs a conjugated verb, but "crecer" is an infinitive; and we're neglecting the fact that "tenía la esperanza de que" needs a subjunctive.
In any case: "tenía la esperanza de que pudiera ser que usted creciera en esta casa", but it sounds long and rather clumsy.
Your proposal as "tenía la esperanza de que pueda crecer en esta casa" is better, but I still suggest to use the past subjunctive: "tenía la esperanza de que pudiera usted crecer en esta casa".
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