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Content tagged with "IF ONLY"

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WISH / IF ONLY

emphasis
unreal situations
IF ONLY
WISH

We can make second and third conditionals more emphatic by placing only after if:

If (only) I knew the answer, I'd tell you.
If (only) I had revised more, I would have done better on my exam.

If only can be replaced with I wish, and the main clause can be omitted:

I wish I knew the answer.
I wish I had revised more.

Patterns introduced with I wish... are used to express wishes about the present, past and future.

Wishes about the future

future
IF ONLY
WISH
WOULD

wish / if only + would

This pattern is used for wishes about the future when there is a chance that something may happen or somebody (but not the person who wishes) may change their behaviour:

Wishes about the past

past
subjunctive
unreal situations
IF ONLY
WISH

wish / if only + past perfect subjunctive

This pattern is used to express wishes or regrets about the past:

Wishes about the present

present
subjunctive
unreal situations
IF ONLY
WISH

wish / if only + past subjunctive

This pattern is used to express wishes or regrets about the present: