Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Marlen]

Hello

Would you help me with the following sentence:

I wish it was over.

Why isn't it possible to say:

I wish it would be over.
1. Because I'm talking about a state?
2. Because I'm talking about a present situation? - If I talked about a future event I could say: I wish it would be over ????

I would be very grateful if anyone could help me understand the concept here.

[asterix]

In formal writing you should use the subjunctive mood.
In this case, you would write, I wish it were over.

When you are expressing a wish for something that has not and may not happen, you should use the subjunctive mood.
I wish I were King.
I wish I were thinner.
And so on.