2020-01-20
4 分钟Hi there.
This is Harry, and welcome back to my podcast, where I try to help you to understand the english language a little better.
Phrases, expressions, and some basic grammar rules.
So I hope you're all keeping well, and let me start.
So, first podcast I have is the use of I wish and if only.
And here we're talking about regrets.
So I've mentioned these previous times in the, in the past, but somebody asked me if I would go over those again and just give a few more examples.
So I'm very glad to be able to do that.
So I wish, and if only, when we're talking about regrets, first rule is we use the simple past or past continuous or could with the infinitive to express a regret about the present or the future.
Okay, so the simple past past continuous when we're talking about regrets about the present or the future.
So let me give you a few examples.
I wish you were here.
So you're not, but you do wish that somebody was there to help you with a particular problem.
I wish you were here.
I wish I could talk to you now.
You can't because they're not available.
But I wish I could talk to you now, or I wish you could see this place so you'd really love it if you could.
You can't, and that's the regret.
I wish you could see this place.
Okay, so that's the first rule.