Wish的用法

Do You Wish You Knew Better Grammar?

Hello, I’m Miss Fang. In English, wish is apowerful word for expressing your dreams, hopes and desires. Here are someexamples:

We wish you the best.

Her mother wishes they would get married.

I wish I had brought my camera.

I wish to speak to the president.

You will often hear wish in music, moviedialog, poetry and inspirational speeches. Let's take a look at some of thetricky grammar issues with wish.

A wish is a desire for a different reality.In general, wishes express desires that are unlikely to happen. If you say,"I wish I could fly," it means you probably will not grow wings andlearn to fly.

A Unique Verb

Wish follows a unique -- and ratherconfusing -- set of grammar rules. Wish uses the same verb back shifting ruleas reported speech.

A wish about the present uses a simple pastmain verb.

He wishes he understood the lesson.

In this example, understood is a simplepast verb.

Wish is often followed by that. Thatintroduces a noun clause. It is optional. For example:

I wish that I looked like a movie star.

I wish I looked like a movie star.

Both of these sentences have the samemeaning.

In hypothetical situations, such as wishesand conditionals, use were for all pronouns.

I wish you were here.

I wish she were here.

I wish I were there.

In everyday conversation, you might hearwas after wish. For example, "I wish I was the president." Was isacceptable in informal situations, but you should use were in formalsituations. This confusing rule comes to English through Latin.

Future wishes

Wish followed by would usually implies arequest. For example:

I wish you would finish college before youget married.

Wish can be used after be going to or willto predict a future regret. Maybe you have heard your parents say somethinglike this:

Someday, you are going to wish you hadtaken my advice.

When you are older, you will wish that youhad studied engineering.

Past wishes

Let's take a closer look at past wishes.Generally, a past wish is a wish that did not come true. To refer to a pastwish, use a past perfect verb after the object. To form the past perfect, usehad followed by a past participle verb.

She wishes she had written down the phonenumber.

I wish I had known that you were in townlast week.

Listen to country singer Gene Autry make apast wish in an old song called "I Wish I Had Never Met Sunshine." Inthis song, Sunshine is the name of a lost lover.

I wish I had never met Sunshine,

and Sunshine had never met me

For 21 years I'll regret it

'Cause I'm in the jailhouse, you see

Most of the time, a wish about the pastsuggests regret. The speaker would have acted differently if he or she couldturn back time. A past wish has a similar grammatical function to a past unrealconditional.

Listen to this song by Taylor Swift. Youwill hear three different uses of wish. She starts with a future wish, thenshifts to the past, then to the present.

I wish you would come back (future)

(I) wish I (had) never hung up the phonelike I did (past)

I wish you knew that I'll never forget youas long as I live. (present)

I wish you were right here, right now it'sall good (present)

Wish + infinitive

Wish followed by an infinitive makes astrong demand. For example:

I wish to speak to the manager.

I wish to learn the truth about whathappened.

Wish can be followed by an infinitive, butnever by a gerund. For example, it would sound strange to say, "I wishgoing skiing." The correct form is, "I wish to go skiing."

Hope vs. Wish

What's the difference between hope andwish? In some contexts they can be interchangeable. Hope usually expressesdesire that is possible. Wish, on the other hand, refers to an outcome that isnot likely to happen.

Pay attention to the different contexts ofhope and wish in these examples.

I hope you pass the test. (possible)

I wish I could fly. (impossible)

I hope I get to work on time. (possible)

I wish I were a millionaire. (not likely)

If wish is "reaching for thestars," then hope is "reaching for the sky."

[Pink Floyd]

How I wish, how I wish you were here

We're just two lost souls...