Structures with "wish"

Irritable commuter: I wish you’d turn your music down!

Selfish, crass bozo with earplugs glued to his head: {says nothing as he didn’t hear the initial remark}

I.C: I said, I wish you’d turn your music down!

S.C.B.W.E.G.T.H.H:  I wish you’d mind your own business.

I.C: I bet you wish you’d studied harder at school, you yobbo.

S.C.B.W.E.G.T.H.H: I bet you wish you had a life, suit.

Director: And cut. You see? - conflict.

Statement of Form

Talking about now and the future: wish + past simple

Talking about the past: wish + past perfect

Talking about things that annoy us: wish + would  + base form

What SS need to know

We’re talking about wanting things to be different. These may be things that the speaker thinks it’s reasonable to hope for:

Hilda: I wish you’d help more with the washing up.

Harry: I wish you’d stop nagging.

Note: When using wish + would, we’re usually annoyed or irritated because of the actions of someone or something else, and therefore we can’t use it to talk about ourselves:

I wish I would shut up! (Well, why don’t you then?)

Or, we may be talking about things that can only ever be a dream:

A: I wish I lived on Saturn.

B: Isn’t that a very long way away?

A: Oh, don’t worry; I could give you a ring.

Or, things that can’t happen because it’s too late:

A: I wish I’d asked Judith Davis for a date when I had a chance.

B: I think she wanted you to. Pity she’s moved to Australia.

A: Not making it any better.

We can use “If only” in place of “I wish”, which sounds a bit more imploring:

If only Rooney could hit a barn door when he’s playing for England.

What students struggle with

For students, using the past simple to talk about the present is not intuitive. It’s another example of English using a past form to express ‘distance from reality’. (See more about this in the entry on past simple.) Don’t forget that using past simple (or a past participle) involves remembering what it is – some students, even at quite high levels, can’t readily remember all past tense and past participle forms.

Then, what do you notice about these?

I wish you’d pipe down.

And

I wish you’d tried harder in your exam.

Both begin with I wish you’d… but what is “‘d”? In the first example, “would”, in the second, “had”.  Given that all students everywhere struggle to use contracted forms, this can lead to inevitable difficulties.

Wish + would  also tends to be difficult because it’s another of those things students come across from time to time that cannot be used with “state” verbs. And It is a structure that expresses our irritation – students from certain parts of the world are not comfortable with showing their feelings.

Generative situations

For wish + past simple / past perfect. Find a picture of person staring out of the window, looking unhappy.

Elicit what they might not like about their life:

I live in this awful town / block of flats. I’m married. I don’t have any money. I haven’t got a boyfriend. I’m too fat. My job’s boring.

Then elicit from these what she is probably wishing:

I wish I lived in a nice town / didn’t live here; I wish I wasn’t married. Etc.

You could use the same situation to elicit wishes about the past:

I married Derek. I moved to Milton Keynes. I gave up piano lessons. I didn’t travel round the world when I was younger.

So, I wish I hadn’t married Derek. I wish I hadn’t moved to Milton Keynes, I wish I’d travelled…etc.

For wish + would

Xenophobic rant. Teach or check the word “xenophobe” (a person who hates other countries or cultures).

Elicit some stereotypical behaviours for various nationalities (tip, it helps to include the country you’re in). Then elicit what the xenophobe would have to say on the subject:

I wish those Italians would shut up, they’re always talking.

I wish those Americans would talk quieter. Why are they always shouting?

I wish the Japanese would stop being so respectful.  Don’t they get backache, bowing like that all day long?

I wish South Africans would quit going on about people’s skin colour.

Can you believe those Brits? Always saying sorry for nothing and being so reserved. I wish they’d show some emotion for once.

And what about those Brazilians? I wish they wouldn’t dance in the street and have fun all the time – they can’t afford it anyway.

The Spanish? I wish their air traffic controllers would do a day’s work instead of going on strike all the time.

Plenty of examples here from which to elicit the form and meaning.

It kind of goes without saying that, whilst this presentation is likely to make an impression, you really need to know your class. That said, students tend to engage surprisingly well the topic of national stereotype, so this can work well.

Fun practice

Guess the superhero. Present, or elicit, the names of a several fictional superheroes or characters that famously had special powers (Superman, Batman, Cyclops, Dr Who, Harry Potter…)

Establish with the class what each can / could do that involved super powers:

“He can fly.” He can do magic.” “He could run very fast.” “He had x-ray eyes.”

Then write the names of the superheroes on individual strips of paper, and hand them out randomly and secretly to groups or individual students. They then prepare a list of wishes, supposing they want to be that Superhero:

“I wish I could fly.” “I wish I had x-ray eyes.”

They read out these to the rest of the class or another group, who try to guess which Superhero they were referring to:

“You wish you were Superman!”

This activity has the benefit of reinforcing the fact that we use the structure for imaginary things.

Worst student.  Wish + would. Establish with the class the sorts of behaviour that can cause teachers to lose patience or their temper:

Use mobile phone, talk in own language, not listen, come late, drink coffee, not concentrate, not do homework, not say anything – you can probably add a  few more.

Get students to help you write these out on slips of card or paper, one per slip. Distribute one slip per student (it doesn’t matter if you have to duplicate some of the errant behaviour at this stage if you have a large class.) Get the class to mingle around the room; when they meet another student, the following exchange takes place:

A: I use my mobile phone in class.  B: I wish you wouldn’t!

B: I come late every day.  A: I wish you wouldn’t! and so on.

Instruct students before they mingle to try to remember each student’s allotted behaviour.

If this seems a little easy, wait. The students are getting lots of practice at a very natural piece of language involving the short response here. And, in the next stage, students put away their slip of paper, and must now try to remember what piece of behaviour each student declared. If they cannot remember, encourage them to guess:

A: (remembering that B said “I come late every day”) “I wish you wouldn’t come late every day!

B: (if A has recalled correctly) “I’m sorry, Sir/Miss.”

If A has recalled wrongly, B retorts: “I don’t come late every day!”

They carry on mingling, having similar exchanges with lots of partners – and getting  lots of natural use of the target language, as well as recycling present simple for habitual behaviour.