I WISH/IF ONLY

Express regrets and wishes

WISH/IF ONLY + PAST SIMPLE

 What does the old

man see in the mirror?
What is he thinking?
WISH/IF ONLY + PAST SIMPLE

 I wish/if only I was younger or I wish I was in my twenties.

 I wish/if only I was handsome or I wish I was stronger… etc
 Grammar: we use this structure to express a desire for a situation that does not exist right
now in the present.
 In a wish sentence, the simple past does not indicate past time; it only indicates that the
situation is unreal.
 That is optional: I wish (that) I was younger.
 Were is used for both singular and plural subjects in a formal context.
 I wish/if only he were younger, but he’s not. He is old.
I WISH/IF ONLY

RELAX…
IT’S TIME
FOR SOME
MEDITATIO
N!
I WISH/IF ONLY + WOULD
I WISH/IF ONLY + WOULD

 She wishes he didn’t see so much TV.

 She wishes/if only he wouldn’t watch so much football.
 Grammar: the structure wish+ (that)/if only +would is used to talk about what other
people do that annoys or irritates us and that we wish was different.
I WISH/IF ONLY + past perfect

 What does he regret??

  He wishes he hadn’t drunk so much
I WISH/IF ONLY + past perfect

 Grammar: we use ‘wish’ + past perfect to talk about regrets from the past. These are
things that have already happened but we wish they had happened in a different way.