Teacher Discussion Forums

'I wish I had (done)...': We can also use the concept of remoteness here too. Provided you have already established with your students that examples like 'I wish I had a million dollars (to spend)' are "remote from general, present reality" (i.e. the "Simple past" form 'had' is used instead of Simple present 'have' (NB: the actual word 'wish' is Simple present because that is where the speech act/moment of speaking itself is located)), it should be relatively easy to then introduce the parallel idea that example-forms like 'I wish I had done my homework' are "remote from past reality". (Remember that perfect aspect is the only way really to "get remote" in talking about the past - compared to the availability of the simple past aspect versus the simple present aspect seen in the above 'I wish I had a million dollars' sort of example). Further tools might be a consideration of the obviously incorrect *I wish I have a million dollars, and the different meaning that 'I wish I did my homework e.g. well i.e. to genuinely teach myself something rather than simply to satisfy others - parents, teachers etc'* (< > 'I wish I could do my homework (...)')) i.e. what the lack or non-use of the perfect aspect would convey, which echoes what I just said about "getting remote". The last thing I want to mention is don't worry about how this apparent "Past perfect" form compares to 'real' Past perfect (the latter of which is just to do with "past in the past" i.e. a temporally-generally remoter past, rather than with any "remote from past reality" - the latter sense only enters when additional words are added such as 'if' or, as we are discussing here, 'wish' >), because the meaning of wish clues us in right from the start that we are dealing with an unreal and counterfactual utterance (i.e. the 'I wish...' sentence stem/beginning is obvious extra co-text and context compared to just 'I had done/finished my homework...(by the time my friends called and invited me out)'. But if all that's a bit too brain-bending you could simply present those slightly dodgy "transformations" (perhaps with small superscript translations of "remote" and/or "unreal" or somesuch above the Simple Present > Simple past, and Simple Past > Past perfect transformed verb phrases respectively): 'I have a million dollars' > 'I wish I had a million dollars', and 'I did my homework' > 'I wish I had done my homework'. Anyway, I’ll perhaps hit my grammar books and see if they explain this better than I seem (un)able to – if so, I’ll try to get back to you with what they have to say! (Edit: They don't really add much to what I've already said! ).


*Note however that the results produced from a Google search for "I wish I did my homework" are often in the sense of 'I wish I had done' i.e. the writers seem to be Americans who have gone for Simple past rather than Past perfect! (Me, I'm British, and a fair number of the Google examples don't sit too well with my ear). There are however some examples that are sort of in-between and ambiguous (JallyJayyzus — Cursebird: What the f#@! is everyone swearing about?RT @caoimhechelon: I wish I did my homework earlier on in the holidays. Now I have to rush to get It all done before Monday. F*cking procrastination... cursebird.com/JallyJayyzus - Cached) or show a Past perfect (a reformulation almost?) rapidly following on from the Simple past (Surrey woman sues over laser facial-hair removal - VANCOUVER..."I wish I did my homework then," she said. "I really wish I had looked into it, or got a second opinion or went to a doctor." ... seecosmetics.com/.../surrey-woman-sues-over-laser-facial-hair-removal.html - Cached - Similar), but like I say, quite a few of the examples contain words or phrases like 'yesterday' or '...before...' (a subsequent implicitly if not explicitly past action, especially if there is a grammatically definite object involved: '...I bought this one' > Final thought: Doubling up of perfect would seem possible: 'I wish I'd done my homework before I'd bought this one').