TENSE TUESDAY: USING 'IF ONLY' FOR WISHES OR REGRETS

Hello and good morning, readers! Are you ready for today's Tense Tuesday? We are looking at a way to use the words IF ONLY to talk about regrets, wishes or hypothetical situations.

Here is the construction:

IF ONLY SUBJECT SIMPLE PAST

In this construction, the Simple Past verb is the word that expresses the "un-realness" of the event or situation: the regret that we have, the wish or the hypothetical situation that we desire. (NOTE: in Romance languages this is usually expressed with the subjunctive.)

Here are some examples.

Example 1: If only I didn't have to work tonight. I really want to go to the concert!

Example 2: If only I had a little more money. Then I could go on vacation with you. 

Example 3: If only my sister lived a little closer. Then we could see each other more often.

Notice how these are all hypothetical situations about our reality in the present, and we are using the Simple Past with IF ONLY to express these "unreal" situations (not having to work, having more money or my sister living closer).

That's all for today. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!