I wish I had vs I wish I would have

[ostap77]

There must have been many posts where this has been discussed. But what's the difference between "I wish I had a new car." and "I wish I would have a new car."?

A: Will Harry be going with you to Moldova?

B: He wishes he........,but unfortunately he's very busy at the moment.

Is it A: came or B:would come? I would use B here.

 

[bhaisahab]

There must have been many posts where this has been discussed. But what's the difference between "I wish I had a new car." and "I wish I would have a new car."? "I wish I would have a new car" is incorrect in BrE.

A: Will Harry be going with you to Moldova?

B: He wishes he........,but unfortunately he's very busy at the moment.

Is it A: came or B:would come? I would use B here.

Both A and B are incorrect in BrE.

 

[ostap77]

What's the right answer to the question about Harry not going to Moldova? What's the difference between "I wish had ....." and "I wish I would have..."?

 

[bhaisahab]

What's the right answer to the question about Harry not going to Moldova? What's the difference between "I wish had ....." and "I wish I would have..."?

"He wishes he could but..." As I said before, "I wish I would have" is incorrect in BrE.

 

[ostap77]

What's the difference between " He could come.." and "he were able ..."?

A:If only your mother ......yelling.

B:I'll ask her to be quiet.

Is it "stopped..." or "would stop......"?

 

[bhaisahab]

What's the difference between " He could come.." and "he were able ..."?

"He wishes he could come" and "He wishes he were able to come" mean the same.

 

[ostap77]

What about the mother question?

A: I wish he would explain exactly what he wants me to do every day.

OR

B: I wish he explained exactly what he wants me to do every day.

 

[5jj]

What about the mother question?

If only your mother would stop yelling.

 

[ostap77]

As to the previous question, what's the difference between A and B?


1)A:I wish Justin listened/would listen ???? to my advice.

B: You should try talking/to talk??? to him again.

What's the difference here between "listened" and "would listen"?

2) What's the difference between the following two?

I wish you would not work on Sundays.

OR

I wish you didn't work on Sundays.

 

[5jj]

A:I wish Justin listened/would listen ???? to my advice.
can b used for a present
B: You should try talking/to talk??? to him again.

What's the difference here between "listened" and "would listen"?

I wish you would ask one question at a time.;-)

wish + past tense expesses regret that something does not happen.
Wish + would expresses regret that something will not happen.

As will can refer to present insistence or typical behaviour, and the present tense to regular or repeated activities, there is sometimes not a great deal of difference in meaning between them

We don't normall use the first person "I wish I would".

 

[BobK]

:up: One of the few case where 'I wish I would....' works is in expressions of regret about one's own lack of will-power:
I wish I would stop phoning her. This is different from 'could', used in similar circumstances: I wish I could stop thinking about her. ;-)

b

 

[ostap77]

And about not working on Sundays?

 

[BobK]

:down: It's 'I wish we didn't have to work on Sundays' or 'I wish they didn't keep making us work on Sundays', for example: I + wish +<subj> + <simple past>. If it's about a habit or frequent occurence you could say something like 'I wish they wouldn't keep doing that' - which isn't really a wish at all.

b

 

[ostap77]

Are the sentences about not working on Sundays worng?

What about the following sentences?

I wish you didn't drive so fast. OK?

OR

I wish you weren't driving so fats OK?

OR

I wish you would not be driving so fas. OK?

OR

I wish you would not drive so fast. OK?

If they're all correct, what would be the difference in meaning?

 

[BobK]

Are the sentences about not working on Sundays worng? I'm lost - which sentences? Mine? I wouldn't have cited them as examples if I thought [not 'would have thought'] they were worng - or indeed wrong. ;-)

What about the following sentences?

I wish you didn't drive so fast. :tick:OK?

OR

I wish you weren't driving so fast :tick: [but only if the speaker is in the car at the time, and referring to an ongoing action (or on the phone to the driver - improbable as well as illegal)] OK?

OR

I wish you would not be driving so fast. :cross:OK?

OR

I wish you would not drive so fast. :tick:OK?

If they're all correct, (they're not) what would be the difference in meaning?

The first is about a habit or tendency. The second is progressive. The third is wrong. The fourth is about a general wish - similar to the first, but less 'intrusive'. It's what a friend would say, rather than a mother. ;-)

b

PS And 'OK' doesn't belong in any of those cases (unless it's at the end of a conversation, usually accompanied by the folding of arms, implying 'That's all I'm going to say about it. You know I don't like it. If you choose to go on doing it, what kind of monster does that make you?' ;-) I suspect you didn't mean to include them. If not, quotation marks would have helped.

 

[ostap77]

" If it's about a habit or frequent occurence you could say something like 'I wish they wouldn't keep doing that'' post#13

OR

"The first is about a habit or tendency." post#15

Which one is about a tendency or frequent occurance "didn't...." or "wouldn't......"?

 

[5jj]

" If it's about a habit or frequent occurence you could say something like 'I wish they wouldn't keep doing that'' post#13

OR

"The first is about a habit or tendency." post#15

Which one is about a tendency or frequent occurance "didn't...." or "wouldn't......"?

Yes

 

[BobK]

Yes

:up: (That is to say, both. But because they can both be used with that sense, you can't conclude that they're interchangeable in all contexts. They're not.)

b

 

[ostap77]

Would there a general guideline for using them depending on a context? I mean when they are interchangeable and when not.

 

[BobK]

You know enough English to realise that life's not that simple! ;-) All you can do is keep absorbibg actual usage and check out collocations in a corpus such as BNC (or in a dictionary of collocations - but I prefer a live corpus - and online ones are free).

b