Wishes
We can express wishes with the verb wish or the phrase if only.
| verb tense | example | use | |
| I wish If only | + past simple | I wish I had more free time. (but I don’t) | to say that we would like sth to be different in the present |
| I wish If only | + past continuous | I wish the sun was/were shining now. ( but it isn’t shining) | to say that we would like sth to be different now |
| I wish If only | + past perfect | I wish I had bought this car. (but I didn’t) | to express regret about the pas |
| I wish If only | + subject + would | I wish you would stop talking so loudly. | to express a polite imperative or a desire for someone’s behavior to change |
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