Six that come straight from Portuguese
Six sentences. Each mixes up two things Portuguese keeps together.
1. I wish you a good result tomorrow. — the result is still possible
2. I hope I was taller.
3. I wish I can come to the wedding.
4. I wish that it stops raining. — a complaint about the weather
5. I wish I would have asked her.
6. I hope I had studied medicine. — a regret
Three kinds of wanting
Overheard, in a kitchen
— I wish I spoke Italian. — You could learn. — I know. That is a different sentence.
— I wish I had said something at the time. — What would you have said? — That is why I did not.
— I wish he would tell me what he actually thinks. — He is not going to. — I know. It is still what I wish.
— I hope she gets it. — So do I. — I would say I wish, but she might still get it, so hope is the right word.
— If only I had checked. — You did check. — If only I had checked properly, then.
— I wish I could stop doing this. — Doing what? — This.
Six sentences. Match each to what it is doing.
The patterns, and the one restriction
What follows wish
| Pattern | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| wish + past simple | A present state you want different | I wish I spoke Italian. I wish I were taller. |
| wish + past perfect | A past regret | I wish I had said something. |
| wish + could | An ability or possibility you do not have | I wish I could come. |
| wish + would | A complaint about somebody else’s repeated behaviour | I wish he would tell me. I wish it would stop raining. |
The restriction on wish + would. It is used about other people, and about things that behave like other people — weather, machines, institutions. It is not normally used about yourself, because would implies a willingness the subject is withholding, and you cannot withhold your own willingness while asking for it.
I wish I would stop smoking. Say I wish I could stop, which is about ability, or I wish I had stopped, which is about the past.
One exception is real and worth hearing: people do sometimes say I wish I would just get on with it about themselves, precisely to sound as though the willing part of them belongs to somebody else.
Two pairs that are easy to blur
| This | Not this | Because |
|---|---|---|
| I hope you get it. | Hope is for what is still possible; wish is for what is not | |
| I wish I knew. | If I knew, I would tell you. | Both are unreal, but wish states the desire itself; if exists to introduce a consequence |
If only takes exactly the same three patterns as wish and raises the emphasis: if only I knew, if only I had asked, if only he would answer. It can stand alone as a whole sentence, which wish cannot, and it carries a falling intonation that closes the topic rather than opening one.
Five questions.
1. Your friend has an interview tomorrow. Which?
2. You do not speak German and you would like to. Which?
3. Your colleague interrupts you constantly. Which?
4. You did not go to the funeral and you regret it. Which?
5. Which is odd about yourself?
The patterns, and the words for them
Seven gaps. Choose the pattern that matches what is meant.
I I spoke better Portuguese, and I I had started earlier, and both of those are true at once. My teacher I would stop apologising for it, which is fair. If only I twenty minutes a day at nineteen, I fluent now. I I could go back and tell myself that. I the class next year goes better.
Use the word in capitals to form a word that fits the gap. All eight are from this unit’s vocabulary.
- His was obvious to everybody except him. BITTER
- She spoke about it with a kind of that was worse than anger. RESIGN
- What he reached was not acceptance but . AVOID
- The whole question is , and he knows it. HYPOTHESIS
- There is something about the way it was handled. REGRET
- She described the town with real , and no wish to return. NOSTALGIA
- His about the move lasted eleven years. AMBIVALENT
- It was an entirely decision at the time. REASON
Three wishes, honestly
Task card · Speaking · Pairs · 5 minutes each
Give your partner three wishes and one hope, and let them classify each one.
Five minutes. Real ones, not amusing ones.
- One about now — something true of you that you would rather were not.
- One about the past — something you did or did not do.
- One about somebody else — a behaviour, not a person.
- One hope — something still open, so the verb has to change.
Listener’s job. For each of the four, write the pattern used and the pattern required. Where they differ, say the corrected sentence back — and then ask the question the wrong form was hiding.
A wish where hope belonged means the speaker has decided something is impossible. That is worth asking about.
Which pattern went missing
Two questions.
1. Which of the four was hardest to produce?
2. What did people most often reach for instead?
Four patterns, one restriction
Two questions. Twenty seconds.
1. What follows wish for a past regret?
2. When can you not use wish + would?
Next. Twenty-six minutes on a decision that is still working on you, with somebody whose job is to make you say the sentence you have been avoiding.