VOA慢速英语--Wish You Knew Better Grammar?

Wish You Knew Better Grammar?

For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar.

In English, wish is a powerful word for expressing your dreams, hopes and desires. Here are some examples:

       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, movie dialog, poetry and inspirational speeches. Let’s take a look at some of the tricky¹ 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 and learn to fly.

A Unique Verb

Wish follows a unique -- and rather confusing -- set of grammar rules. Wish uses the same verb back shifting rule as reported speech.

A wish about the present uses a simple past main verb.

          He wishes he understood the lesson.

In this example, understood is a simple past verb.

Wish is often followed by that. That introduces 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 same meaning.

In hypothetical situations, such as wishes and conditionals⁴, 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 hear was after wish. For example, “I wish I was the president.” Was is acceptable in informal situations, but you should use were in formal situations. This confusing rule comes to English through Latin.

Future wishes

Wish followed by would usually implies a request. For example:

I wish you would finish college before you get married.

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

Someday, you are going to wish you had taken my advice.

When you are older, you will wish that you had 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 past wish, use a past perfect verb after the object. To form the past perfect, use had followed by a past participle verb.

          She wishes she had written down the phone number.

          I wish I had known that you were in town last week.

Listen to country singer Gene² Autry make a past wish in an old song called “I Wish I Had Never Met Sunshine.” In this 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 past suggests regret. The speaker would have acted differently if he or she could turn back time. A past wish has a similar grammatical function to a past unreal conditional³.

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

I wish you would come back (future)

(I) wish I (had) never hung up the phone like I did (past)

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

I wish you were right here, right now it’s all good (present)

Wish + infinitive⁵

Wish followed by an infinitive makes a strong demand. For example:

            I wish to speak to the manager. 

            I wish to learn the truth about what happened.

Wish can be followed by an infinitive, but never by a gerund. For example, it would sound strange to say, “I wish going skiing.” The correct form is, “I wish to go skiing.”

Hope vs. Wish

What’s the difference between hope and wish? In some contexts they can be interchangeable. Hope usually expresses desire that is possible. Wish, on the other hand, refers to an outcome that is not likely to happen.

Pay attention to the different contexts of hope 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 the stars,” then hope is “reaching for the sky.”

 

	example	structure
past	I wish I had known you were here. I wish you would had called.	Past perfect (had + past participle)
present	I wish I were a bird.	Simple past (were for all pronouns)
future	I wish she would call me.   You are going to wish that you had studied harder.	Would + simple present (no third person -s) Will/be going to + past perfect
infinitive	I wish to know the truth	to + simple present (no third person -s)
Past wish (no longer active)	When I was a child, I wished I could be a fireman.	Wished + simple past/past part (not common)

 

Words in This Story

 

verb back shifting rule – grammatical term. The concept of going back one verb tense.

present simple	→	past simple
present progressive	→	past progressive
past simple	→	past perfect
present perfect

 

inspirational – adj. causing people to want to do or create something

 

hypothetical – adj. not real : imagined as an example

 

imply – v. to express (something) in an indirect way : to suggest (something) without saying or showing it plainly

 

regret – n. to feel sad or sorry about (something that you did or did not do) : to have regrets about (something)

 

jailhouse – n. a place where people are kept when they have been arrested and are being punished for a crime

 

context – n. the words that are used with a certain word or phrase and that help to explain its meaning

 

interchangeably – adv.  capable of being used in place of each other

1 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

2 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

3 conditional   

adj.条件的，带有条件的

参考例句：

• My agreement is conditional on your help.你肯帮助我才同意。
• There are two forms of most-favored-nation treatment:conditional and unconditional.最惠国待遇有两种形式:有条件的和无条件的。

4 conditionals   

n.条件句，从句，条件式( conditional的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Conditionals are used to about possible, imaginary or impossible conditions. 条件句用于谈论有可能的、想像的或不可能的状况。 来自互联网
• Macros containing conditionals will automatically update their visual feedback as appropriate during play. 宏中若有条件式存在时，会依照条件式自动更新该宏的技能、物品描述。 来自互联网

5 infinitive   

n.不定词；adj.不定词的

参考例句：

• The use of the split infinitive is now generally acceptable.分裂不定式的用法现在已被广泛接受。
• Modal verbs generally take the bare infinitive.情态动词通常用不带to的不定式。