Problems with WISH

Question

can sb please help me with the follwoing?
- is this sentnece correct? if so, what does it mean? I wish I would wear a coat
- is there a difference between these sentences? if so, what is it? I wish we could have postponed the trip and I wish we had been able to postpone the trip

SmolderingMuffin · Accepted Answer

"I wish I would wear a coat."

Grammatically correct. It would be self-rebuking. In other words, "Here I am in this situation where a coat would have been useful. However, I did not wear a coat. I wish I would wear a coat." There would be an implication of "but I'm too stupid or stubborn to do so" after your statement.

"I wish we could have postponed the trip vs. I wish we had been able to postpone the trip"

These two sentences might mean the same thing, and they might not. It depends on context. The second sentence puts more emphasis on inability, and suggests that some outside factor prevented postponing. The first sentence might be uttered in passing, without any reference to specific factors that prevented postponing. An "idle wish", in other words.

Tinker Val · Answer

Hi

- I wish I would wear a coat.
You wish wearing a coat but you can't actually. It is an unreality situation of wish you want to be true now, but it is not true.

- I wish we could have postponed the trip.
It is a regret about the past and the ability to chance it on time, but you didn't. You actually could have changed it if you wanted or realized on time, but you didn't and now you regret it.

- I wish we had been able to postpone the trip.

It is a regret or sadness about things that already happened in the past and you wanted they could have been different. It was out of your hands, still you regret you couldn't chance that situation.

Greetings

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousI wish I would wear a coat

The interpretation above involving self-rebuke may actually be possible as an outside limit, but all sentences of the form "I wish I would" are pretty much anomalous. We normally wish that other people would (do something or other). We normally presume that we have control over our own behavior, so wishing about it is pointless, because we could just change it by an act of the will if we wanted to. Wishes are normally directed toward situations we have no control over.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymous1. I wish we could have postponed the trip
2. I wish we had been able to postpone the tripThese are very close in meaning, and might even be taken as synonymous under some interpretations. The following show interpretations which are not synonymous.

1. I wish it would have been possible to postpone the trip. (It was known to be impossible.)

2. I wish we had succeeded in postponing the trip. (We tried and failed.)

CJ

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