‘I Wish’ or ‘If Only’ Sentences to Express Wish/Regret

Today is a lovely day and we would be learning about something in which most of the people get confused. In this grammar lesson, you would be learning to use ‘I wish’ and ‘If only’. This will help you in knowing various grammar rules and example sentences. 

In case you want to express your wish or desire in English then you need to understand it. The wish you are making for a situation is different from what is actually happening in reality. Here it is clearly visible that you desire something to happen. The common verb that you would be using is “to wish”. This specific verb can be used in different tenses in English. It will be depended on what we desire or desired to be different.

There are three different types of  I wish / if only  sentences:

  1. Where we Wish, want to change for the present or future with the simple past.
  2. Regret with the past perfect.
  3. Complaints using would + verb.

Let’s get to know how to make use of ‘I Wish’ in English grammar but with different tenses.

1. Wish + Past Simple

In this form, you would be expressing a situation in present ( or in the future) to be different. For instance,

  • I wish I had more bread with vegetables.
  • She wishes she had a different department in her company.
  • They wish it all happened in September.
  • John wished he had a bigger terrace garden.
  • I really wished it was the summer internship. 

Now let’s see how the verb ‘I wish’ can be used in Past continuous.

2. ‘I Wish’ + Past Continuous

In this form, you would be expressing that you want to be doing somewhat different activities in the present or in the future. 

  • I wish I was playing cricket in my garden right now. 
  • I wish it weren’t too hot now.
  • I wish you could be attending my birthday party next week. 

Now let’s see how to use ‘I wish’ with Past Perfect

3. Working “I wish’ + Past Perfect ‘had’

In English grammar, the sentence structure use ‘I wish’ to express the regret of some kind. This means the person tries to change the situation if he/she could. The situation is to show past events or situations. Let’s explore the ‘I wish’ sentence examples. 

  • I wish I hadn’t lost our childhood photo. It was the last piece of memory I had. 
  • I wish I hadn’t came upstairs to this room. It was the mistake that landed me with this situation in jail.
  • Mohit wishes he had studied more for the international mathematics competition. It would take him to the US.
  • Jacob wishes he had prepared harder for the interview. He would not have to work with this local company.  (He would have worked with some international company – MNC)
  • The football team wishes they hadn’t scored the goal. It made winning more difficult. 

4. Working ‘I wish’ + would

This sentence structure is used to express that the speaker want something to happen in the past.

Let’s explore the examples to get a better understanding.

  • I wish my bike would start as soon as I reach the checkpoint. 
  • He wishes the English lessons would end before November. ( He wanted to attend the winter camp).
  • I always wish that you would listen to me before choosing a random job.  ( in this sentence, the speaker is expecting the listener to start doing something that they generally don’t do)
  • I wish my sister just stop borrowing my clothes every time. 
  • I wish my dad would call me as often as he is calling my brother.

Rules to Use ‘If Only’ in Sentence with Examples

We use if only with past tenses to introduce what we think is a good reason for doing something, although you realize it may be for a limited period, purpose etc. We also use ‘If only’ to say that we would like a situation to be different from what it was.

Here are some examples of using ‘If Only’ in the sentences. 

  • If only I could be more sympathetic towards my family during the funeral.
  • If only I had more money, I could be getting a car for my family.
  • If only I was going on a vacation with you I would be happy.
  • If only you were here we could bring out the best memories.
  • If only the sun would come out, we could play outside in the garden. 
  • If only you could be part of this grand event, I would be really happy.
  • If only I had listened to you about the job, I would be doing something better today.
  • If only he had explained the whole crime scene, we could have done a better investigation. 

We hope you have learned how to use ‘I wish’ vs ‘If only’ phrase correctly under different verb forms. Stay tuned to EnglishBix for more English related resources.

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