Do u know wish is a multi-talented verse, it can express more than one function. Are you
also multi-talented and do you want to learn what all wish can do? It can express regrets
yes in the past or present regrets not only that it can also complain and on top of that
wish can change anything.
So join me in this lesson your tutor for the day Michelle and we are going to find out
functions for the word "wish"
How to use the word 'Wish' in different Grammar Structures for IELTS & TOEFL exams
Let’s startwith the first word...Uh... sentence that we have,
I wish I played the piano, sorry about this, so I wish I played the piano.
What you could think is this situation a present situation or past situation because we are
using the word "wish" which is the main verb in the sentence ,this is a present sentence
but is it talking about the present "I wish I played the piano "suddenly another verb
but this one has "ED" which means we are talking about the past so this is a present tense
sentence used to talk about the past.... here "I wish I played the piano" so the speaker
doesn't play the piano right now but they wished that they played the piano in the past
so we can use wish with past simple to talk about a situation in the present ( a regret
in the present) It’s quite obvious that the speaker is not
happy about not being able to play piano, so the speaker is expressing regret which
means they wished but they don’t do it at the moment.And the tense that we are using
is simple past (wish +played) and we have "ED" because play is a regular verb don’t
forget about that. So wish +past simple
is used to talk about a regret in the present.
Let’s look at the next sentence.
I wish I were rich again the tense that we are using is present ah past simple because
we are using the word "were" wish +past simple again we are talking about a regret in the
present but why are we not saying "I was "I wish I was rich. Because whenever we use wish
with "I" and a "to be" verb it’s never was in the past it's always "were" which is a
"to be verb” so wish +to be always you will always use "were" and not "was"
I wish I was taller that a wrong statement you always say "I wish I were taller "so wish
+were which is "to be "
Great with that we look at the next sentence
Julie wishes she hadn't lost her phone.
What are we talking about according to you here are we talking about the present like
these two situations regret in the present or are we expressing a regret in the past
“I wish “Julie wishes she hadn’t lost her phone. Has Julie already lost her phone?
Yes Julie has already lost her phone it’s a past event but she is wishing in the present.
so let’s look at the form of the sentence she hadn’t the word "had "shows that we
are using the past perfect we are using the past perfect with the word " wish "and when
do we use wish +past perfect "when we are talking about a regret in the past. Julie
wishes she hadn’t lost her phone. She has already lost her phone, It’s an event in
the past so for regrets in the past. As you have seen we can use the word "wish "to express
regrets in the present and also a regret in the past but be careful about the tenses for
expressing regret in the present we used "The past simple " but for expressing the regret
in the past we used "The past perfect "with "had “as I had told you in the beginning
of the lesson that wish is a multi-talented word it not only expresses regrets but it
does other things too.
Let’s read the next sentence I wish they would stop making noise.
Yes, we are wishing something here and are we wishing in the Present in the Past or in
the Future. Now we are hoping that something in the future
will change, so currently there is this group of kids who are making a lot of noise and
you are trying to sleep in your room but you are not able to sleep so you wish that in
the future they would stop making noise as you would have seen that there is something
special about the sentence the word " would" we use" wish +would "to talk about a change
that we are desiring or wishing for " To talk about a change" that we desire and we will
use the form " wish +would " I wish they would stop making noise a desirable change in the
future if you are a world changer you might say "I wish they reduce the pollution in my
city" or" I wish people start using people would start using bicycles" alright and if
you have not studied for your English exams you could say "I wish I would have studied
better ". Let’s look at the next sentence
I wish you wouldn’t arrive so late always.
Well in this sentence as well we are using the same word "would" and "wish" the same
words wish and would. But are we expressing the same function are
we still desiring a change in the future... read it carefully " “I wish you wouldn’t
arrive so late always " here we are trying to complain about something "complain "you
could also say instead of wish "If only you would arrive on time "so you can replace"
If only " with you can replace wish with "If only" But you need to be very careful that
when we are using wish we usually have the negative form of "would "but when we are using
"If only " we are giving a positive situation because we don’t have wouldn’t and instead
we are using the word would. So you have seen that we can you use the word "wish " to express
different feeling, different thoughts.
The first would be "To express a regret in the present which could be with"" Past Simple
or to express a regret in the past with " Past Perfect" be careful about "had " and do not
use " has " and we can also use wish to talk about a change that we are expecting in the
future and finally one we can use wish to complain " I wish you would continue to watch
my lessons "this is my desire for you in the future .
Please come back for more with me your tutor for the day Michelle
Bye Bye