SET 1

You have recently started a new job and you are incredibly upset with every
aspect of your new post: the work you do is boring, your boss is a
borderline psychopath, and your colleagues are a bunch of two-faced,
brown-nosing morons.

If only my boss

I wish my colleagues

I’d sooner

My boss behaves as though

It is time I

I’d rather my job

SET 2
You are 16 years old and live with your parents. They control your life and
don’t let you spread your teenage wings.

If only my parents

I wish my mother

I’d sooner

My dad behaves as though

It is time I

I’d rather my life

SET 3
You have just started living in a dorm. You share a room with another
person, there is one bathroom and a kitchen on your floor. You’ve realised
that all the mess and noise are going to be hard to live with.

If only my flatmate

I wish other students

I’d sooner

Others behaves as though

It is time I

I’d rather my room

SET 4
You have decided to go on a diet and hire a personal trainer to help you
lose weight and get back in shape. You have realised that the new regimen
is very hard to follow and you are getting frustrated.

If only my trainer

I wish I

I’d sooner

My trainer behaves as though

It is time I

I’d rather my diet

In this post, you can find extra ideas for activities concerning unreal past, wishes, and
hypothetical meaning. They were designed for C1/C2 students and aim at providing some context
for using new structures. Activities should be used for further practice or revision.

The Task

I have posted about ideas for using wish/if only here and here. This time, I would like to present 3
activity/game ideas that cover a wider range of structures and offer different degrees of support for
the students. For each of the activities, you need this printable worksheet. The worksheet contains
4 sets. Each set includes a situation and a table with 6 sentence beginnings, each containing a target
structure.

The grammar covered:

 wish (+ Past Simple / Past Perfect) to express that we want the present situation to be
different or to express regret about the past
 if only (+ Past Simple / Past Perfect) to express that we want the present situation to be
different or to express regret about the past
 as though (+ Past Simple) to indicate that the situation is unlikely
 I’d sooner (+ Past Simple) to express a preference
 it is time (+ Past Simple) to say that something is not happening and it should be
 I’d rather you /they (+ Past Simple) to express a preference

Target structures require expressing wishes, talking about unreal past, and hypothetical meaning.

Variation 1 (a lot of support for the learners)

Students work in pairs or individually. Each student/ pair receives one set. Their task is to read the
situation and finish the sentences in the coloured part of the table. Then, they might read their ideas
out loud and the rest of the class should guess what their given situation was

Variation 2 ( less support for the learners)

Students work in pairs or individually. Each student/ pair receives one set. Their task is to read the
situation and fill out the white side of the table so as to create the dominoes tiles (the last coloured
cell in the table is the beginning of the sentence which finishes in the first white cell in the table).

When they are finished, demonstrate how to cut up the tiles (horizontally!) to create the game.
Students switch their sets, combine the tiles to create logical sentences. Then, you might ask them
to figure out the situation described.

Variation 3 (very little support for the learners)

Present each group/ student with just the situation part of the task. Ask them to decide which
structures they want to use and what sentences they want to make.

To develop this activity further, encourage your students to think of situations from their own
lives they wish were different. Each student writes down one or two sentences on separate pieces
of paper which are then put in a container. Then, each student draws a piece of paper, reads out
a sentence and tries to guess who wrote it. This activity is quite fun especially towards the end of
the term when students have managed to get to know each other better.
This option works better with more advanced groups who will use this game for revision purposes.