Hope and Wish

(Present & Future)

 Hope and wish express different points
of view about the present and future.
Hope refers to real possibilities.
Wish is used to express impossibility or
improbability that the speaker or writer
wants reality to be other than it is

Hopes verse Inference

Wishes
I hope that they will It is possible that
(can) help us. they will (can) help
us.
I wish that they would They probably will
(could) help us. not (cannot) help us.
 Hopes: present and future hopes are
expressed by using present or future verbs
or modal auxiliaries such as can in the
dependent clause.
Wishes: present and future wishes are
expressed by using would, could, or a
special verb form the subjunctive in the
dependent clause. In most cases, this form
is the same as the simple past tense.
In formal English, were is used for all forms
of the verb be. However, in informal English
, was is sometimes used with I, he, she and
it, although it is not considered correct. Use
of that is optional in these sentences.
 Examples Inferences
Wishes I wish (that) they They arent here.
about were here.
the
I wish (that) they They are not
present
were coming. coming.
I wish (that) they They dont come
came here more here very often.
often.
I wish they could They cannot
come. come.
Wishes I wish they were They are
about going to come. probably not
the going to come.
future I wish they would They probably
 Wishes about the past
Wishes about the past express
feelings or thoughts that did not
happen, that are contrary to reality.
To show the unreality of the wish, a
subjunctive form, which is the same
as the past perfect tense, is normally
used in the dependent clause.
 Examples Notes
The workers went on In most cases, had +
strike. I wish (that) past participle is used
there hadnt been a with past wishes. The
strike. past participle can be
The negotiators didnt omitted if the meaning
agree. We wish (that) is clear. That can also
they had (agreed). be omitted.
The negotiators In some cases, perfect
couldnt agree. We modals (could [would,
wish (that) they could etc] have + past
have (agreed). participle) are used to
express past wishes.