5. I wish I were rich

Icono IDevice Reading activity

While lying on the bed, Paco is thinking about a lot of different things. He believes he will continue to be self-sufficient, but will he? Obviously, he will not need any economic help thanks to the lottery prize  he won, but he will probably need somebody's help in the future. In fact, he needed his sister's help to learn English, didn't he? Money! he thinks. How many people would say to themselves everyday "I wish I were rich"? Paco's wishes and regrets are different, and he lists them in his head.

 
 
 

1. "I wish my parents and Sonia were here with me" (although he doesn't need them to enjoy the trip, he would like them to visit all the places he is visiting).

2. "I wish there wasn't any hunger in the world."

3. "I wish I had visited Egypt."

4. "If only I had studied English harder."

5. "If only I had enough time to visit every place in Sidney."

These are Paco's main wishes or regrets at the moment.


Three of Paco's wishes refer to the present (now, although formed with a past tense), and two of them refer to the past, that is, they are impossible to accomplish, as we can't change the past. Try to find them!



There are of course other ways to express wishes and other tenses that may follow "I wish" and "If only", but they will be studied later in the unit.
Icono IDevice Further knowledge

Read this comic in which Cathy thinks her mother is of no help at all so that you get used to the structure for expressing regrets, among other things.


Icono de IDevice de pregunta Self-Assessment activity

Decide whether the following wishes or regrets refer to the present or to the past.

1.I wish Sonia could see me speaking English.

  

a. Present.

b. Past


By Fer... C. Commons

2. If only I had seen the pyramids.

  

a. Present

b. Past


3. If only Andrés were more helpful.

  

a. Present

b. Past


4. I wish my friends had won the lottery too.

  

a. Present

b. Past


Icono de iDevice Reflexión

Let's have a look at some of the terms that appear in the previous exercise: around, only, could, and too.

Could you place them in the correct box taking into account their pronunciation?

 

/u/ /u:/ /au/

/ǝu/

       

 

That's all we wanted to do to introduce the contents that will be studied in the following topics of the unit. Congratulations! You've finished topic 1!