C1 Class notes – Mon 23 Jan: ‘wish’ / ‘if only’ / ‘it’s (high) time that…’

● I wish/ if only + PAST = wishes in the present

Here the past tense indicates that you are speaking hypothetically.

I wish I was taller. / If only I had blonde hair!

● I wish/ if only + PAST PERFECT = wishes in the past

I wish I hadn’t told him that. / If only I hadn’t missed the bus.

● ‘will’ & ‘would’ for annoying actions

My mother will keep ringing me first thing in the morning. (the habit annoys me)

Note that in speech, ‘will’ must be stressed: ‘My mother WILL keep ringing me…’

This is equivalent to the present continuous with ‘always’:

My mother is always ringing me first thing in the morning.

We tend to use the ‘will’ structure as a criticism after an instance of the annoying habit:

[My mother rings me]

A: Who was that?

B: My mother! She will ring me first thing! I wish she wouldn’t.

We can express the same idea with ‘I wish’ + ‘would’:

I wish my mother wouldn’t keep ringing me first ting in the morning.

● It’s time to do X => this action usually happens now:

It’s April, the sun is out – time to switch to your summer wardrobe!

● It’s time (that) [N] did X => circumstances demand that this should happen

It’s time the council did something about the state of this road.

It’s time you started studying for your exam next week.

In many circumstances either form can be used without any difference in meaning:

It’s late – it’s time for us to go / it’s time we went.