UNREAL PAST
WISH OR IF
ONLY
Wish and
‘If only’ are both used to talk about regrets. things that we would like to
change either about the past or the present.
Talking
about the present
- If only I
didn’t have so much homework I could go to the concert tonight. She has a lot
of homework and she can’t go to the concert.
- I wish you
didn’t live so far away.
- I wish I
knew what to do.
ITS HIGHT
TIME
It's (high)
time + past subjunctive expresses that something should be done and that it is
already a bit late:
- It's time
you went to bed. You'll have to get up early tomorrow.
- When we say
that the right time has arrived for something and we are still in time, we can
use the following patterns:
- It's time
(for you) to go to bed.
WOULD
RATHER
Would
rather is used to express a preference in English. Would rather is the same in
meaning as would prefer. These two phrases are used interchangeably to express
a preference when making a choice. Here are some examples of short
conversations that use would rather to either state or ask for a preference.
Structure
The form
would rather is a little strange because 'rather' is not a verb but is part of
an expression that means 'would prefer to'. 'Rather' is usually immediately
followed by averb in base form (verb without 'to'). It's common to use would
rather in the shortened 'd rather form in positive statements. All subjects
take 'would rather'.Would rather can be used to refer to the present moment or
a future moment in time.
WHAT IF OR
SUPPOSE
We use
"suppose that", "supposing that" and "what if" to
talk abot the imaginary situations. We just imagine the opposite of the current
situation and want to guess or learn possible results of this imaginary
situation.
- Suppose
that you failed the test, what would you do then?
- Suppose
that hadn't bought that car, what else would you have done with your money?
- Suppose we
miss the train - what will we do then?
- Supposing
that I lost all the money, what would you do?
Resources
for practice about it:
- http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/unreal-past/
- http://www.englishpedia.net/my-grammar/advanced/if-clauses/suppose-that-what-if-grammar-lesson.html
- http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-reference/wish-and-if-only
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