{"id":24348,"date":"2025-07-07T08:42:58","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T08:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ec.itmonks.dev\/en\/?post_type=free_lesson&#038;p=24348"},"modified":"2025-07-07T08:42:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T08:42:58","slug":"using-wish-for-regrets-and-unreal-situations","status":"publish","type":"free_lesson","link":"https:\/\/ec.itmonks.dev\/en\/learn-english-for-free\/grammar\/using-wish-for-regrets-and-unreal-situations\/","title":{"rendered":"Using &#8216;wish&#8217; for regrets and unreal situations!\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><em>&#8216;I <strong>wish<\/strong> I had visited Dubai!<\/em> <em>I <strong>wish<\/strong> I had studied at EC Dubai&#8217;\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In today&#8217;s lesson let&#8217;s look at using wish for past regrets. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What does regret mean?&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">To <strong>regret<\/strong> means that we now feel sorry for something which happened (or didn\u2019t happen) in the past.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\">For example:&nbsp;<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018I <strong>regret<\/strong> waking up so late this morning.\u2019 = I am now sorry that I woke up late.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018I <strong>regret<\/strong> not studying harder in school.\u2019 = I am now sorry that I didn\u2019t study enough.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>In English we can use the word &#8216;wish&#8217; to talk about our past regrets<\/strong> (I have many regrets, so it a useful word for me)!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Examples of past situation regrets&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Let\u2019s take a look at our first example sentence using <strong>wish<\/strong>:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018I <strong>wish<\/strong> I had studied harder in school.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><em>(wish + pronoun + <\/em><strong><em>past perfect<\/em><\/strong><em>)<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Again, in this example sentence the speaker is now sorry that they did not study harder in school.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Here are some more examples:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018Noel <strong>wishes<\/strong> he <strong>had visited<\/strong> the Sorbonne when he was in Paris.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018We <strong>wish<\/strong> we <strong>had been<\/strong> kinder to her before she got sick.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018They <strong>wish<\/strong> they <strong>hadn\u2019t spent<\/strong> so much money on their shopping trip.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Using wish for present regrets&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">So far, we have looked at using regret for events which happened in the past which we now feel sorry about. We can also use wish to talk about our regrets about present situations i.e. we wish that things could be different from the way they are <strong>now<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018I <strong>wish<\/strong> I was taller.\u2019 = I am not tall, but I want to be.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><em>(wish + pronoun + <\/em><strong><em>past simple<\/em><\/strong><em>)<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Note<\/strong>: Although we are talking about the present we use <em>the past tense<\/em>:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Correct: \u2018I wish I <strong>was<\/strong> taller\u2019&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Incorrect: \u2018I wish I <strong>am<\/strong> taller\u2019.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Examples of present situation regrets:&nbsp;<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018I <strong>wish<\/strong> I <strong>knew<\/strong> the way home.\u2019 = I want to go home, but I don\u2019t know the way.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018She <strong>wishes<\/strong> she <strong>was<\/strong> going too.\u2019 = She wants to go, but she can&#8217;t.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018They <strong>wish<\/strong> they <strong>were <\/strong>younger.\u2019 = They are older than they want to be.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Complaining&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">When someone does something which makes us angry we can use <strong>wish<\/strong>:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018I <strong>wish<\/strong> you wouldn\u2019t do that\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><em>(wish + pronoun + <\/em><strong><em>would<\/em><\/strong><em>)<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Imagine that you share an apartment with somebody. He is very lazy. You can complain by using <strong>wish + would<\/strong>:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018I <strong>wish<\/strong> you <strong>would <\/strong>wash the dishes.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018I <strong>wish<\/strong> you <strong>wouldn\u2019t<\/strong> leave your clothes on the floor.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018I <strong>wish<\/strong> you <strong>would<\/strong> be cleaner.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dreams and unreal situations&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">We can use <strong>wish + could to<\/strong> talk about something that we want to do but can\u2019t.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Using wish for <strong>impossible dreams<\/strong>:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018I <strong>wish<\/strong> I <strong>could<\/strong> fly like superman!\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Using wish for <strong>possible dreams<\/strong>:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u2018I <strong>wish<\/strong> I <strong>could<\/strong> ski.\u2019 (This is not impossible, you just need to take lessons)&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;I wish I had visited Dubai! I wish I had studied at EC Dubai&#8217;\u00a0 In today&#8217;s lesson let&#8217;s look at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23809,"parent":0,"template":"","free_lesson_category":[281],"class_list":["post-24348","free_lesson","type-free_lesson","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","free_lesson_category-grammar"],"acf":{"related_posts":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Using &#039;Wish&#039; to talk about regrets, dreams, and more! | EC English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to use &#039;wish&#039; to talk about past regrets, present situations, complaints, and dreams in English.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Using &#039;Wish&#039; to talk about regrets, dreams, and more! 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