• (present; unreal)S + wish + that + S + were/pt. … could/might…+ be/V

• (past; unreal)S + wish + that + S + had + pp. … could/would..+ have pp.

• S + be + to V…

(present; unreal)

Let’s say you are too busy to spend more time with your family. But deep down inside, you’re dying to spend time with them. In that case, you might say, “I wish I were not so busy so that I could have more time to spend with my family.” While you’re saying so, you know that is only a wish, not a reality you’re in.

Here’s another example. Your friend is a doctor and he’s making a lot of money, much more than you. Perhaps you might say to him, “I wish I were you. Then I would be as rich as you.” But actually you are you and he is he; you can’t be he. Note that you cannot say I hope I were you and that you can only use “wish” to express this unreal wish.

Now look at the following situation and try making a wish wishing the real situation could be otherwise.

• Wilma is bored and she is looking at a little bird flying freely just outside the window. This is what she might think: “I wish I ____(fly) like the little bird.” But, she cannot fly; after all, she is not a bird.

“I wish I could fly like the little bird.”

• It’s raining and we have to cancel the picnic. Sue is disappointed, saying, “I wish it ____________ and then we __________________ the picnic.”

• Tony doesn’t have a day off today and he can’t go down to Taichung with us. He wishes that he ________________today and that he _________________with us.

(past; unreal)

• Mary didn’t prepare Lesson Five and she couldn’t answer many questions on the test just now. Now she wishes that she had prepared Lesson Five so that she could have answered many more questions on the test. However, what happened happened. All she has to do is study harder from now on.

• Mary forgot to lock her car and it was stolen. Now Mary feels very upset. She wishes that she ______________her car and that her car ___________________________________________

• Mark caught a cold yesterday and he didn’t run in the 3000-meter relay race. But he wishes that he ________ a cold yesterday and that he __________ in the relay race.

S + be + to V…Look at the following sentences:• You are to come here at 5p.m.• Jason is to deliver a speech in French at the

conference room tomorrow morning.• Mr. Wang is to take the place of Mr. Chen

in his absence.The “be + to V” can mean either “be about to

V,” “be going to V,” “be expected to,” “be scheduled to V,” or “be supposed to V.”

• “I wish it weren’t raining now and then we wouldn’t have to cancel the picnic.”

• He wishes that he had a day off today and that he could go down to Taichung with us.

• She wishes that she had locked/hadn’t forgotten to lock/had remembered to lock her car and that her car hadn’t been stolen.

• But he wishes that he hadn’t caught a cold yesterday and that he had run in the relay race.