way2go! 7. Coursebook, Schulbuch

177 You use the same tenses as in the if -clauses above to express wishes about the present and regrets about the past with I wish / If only : An imaginary future situation has consequences for the present If you talk about an imaginary future situation that influences the present, you use: If + past continuous would/could/might + infinitive If I were taking the exam tomorrow, I would be extremely nervous. I could spend all my money on fun stuff if I wasn’t buying a new car next month. Wishes about the present: I wish/If only + past tense When something in the present is not the way you would like it to be, you use: I wish/If only + past tense I wish it wasn’t raining today. (It’s raining and you don’t like this.) I wish I knew how to help you. (You don’t know how to help and you are unhappy about that.) Regrets about the past: I wish/If only + past perfect tense When you say that you regret (not) doing something in the past, you use: I wish/If only + past perfect tense I wish I hadn’t picked this college. (You picked a specific college and you regret that now.) If only I’d studied harder for the exam. Maybe I would’ve got a better mark. (You didn’t study hard enough and you regret that.) Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv