Download this free B2–C1 grammar worksheet PDF for English learners and teachers. This lesson helps students practise wish and if only for present wishes, past regrets, unavailable abilities and complaints about situations they want to change.
Students learn how to use wish / if only + past simple for present situations they want to be different. The worksheet gives clear examples such as I wish I knew the answer, If only I had more free time and I wish I didn’t have to work late.
The worksheet also covers wish / if only + were in careful hypothetical English. Students practise forms such as I wish I were more patient, while also learning that was is common and acceptable in informal speech.
Students practise wish / if only + could + base verb for abilities or possibilities that are unavailable now, as in I wish I could speak Japanese. For missed past abilities or opportunities, they learn wish / if only + could have + past participle, for example I wish I could have stayed longer.
The worksheet teaches wish / if only + past perfect for completed past situations that the speaker regrets. Students practise examples such as I wish I had taken that job, If only we had left earlier and I wish I hadn’t said that.
Students also learn how to use wish + would / wouldn’t + base verb for complaints and desired changes in another person’s behaviour or an external situation. Examples include I wish the neighbours would stop drilling, I wish you wouldn’t interrupt me and I wish my phone wouldn’t keep freezing.
The lesson also makes an important distinction between wish and hope. Students learn that wish normally describes something unreal, regretted or contrary to fact, while hope is used for realistic future possibilities or past outcomes whose result is still unknown.
The PDF includes a grammar focus section, choose-the-best-form practice, sentence-to-reason matching, mistake correction, controlled sentence completion, rewriting tasks, meaning-and-structure practice, speaking questions, sentence-writing practice, integrated grammar production, an error-checking challenge, useful reminders and a full answer key.
This worksheet can be used in one-to-one lessons, group classes, online English lessons, adult ESL lessons, EFL classes, exam preparation, homework or independent grammar practice.
Level: B2–C1
Grammar point: Wish and if only
Focus: present wishes, past regrets, complaints, wish + would, could and could have, hypothetical were, wish vs hope, speaking and writing
Format: Free grammar worksheet PDF with answer key
This free worksheet includes:
- a clear explanation of wish and if only
- practice with wish / if only + past simple
- practice with wish / if only + were
- practice with wish / if only + could + base verb
- practice with wish / if only + past perfect
- practice with wish / if only + could have + past participle
- practice with wish + would + base verb
- practice with wish + wouldn’t + base verb
- practice distinguishing present wishes from past regrets
- practice expressing unavailable present or future ability
- practice expressing missed past abilities and opportunities
- practice making complaints about another person’s behaviour
- practice making complaints about external situations
- practice distinguishing wish from hope
- practice using if only for stronger emotion
- practice with time clues such as now, these days, yesterday and last week
- choose-the-best-form practice
- sentence-to-reason matching
- mistake correction
- controlled sentence completion
- sentence rewriting
- meaning-and-structure practice
- speaking practice
- sentence-writing practice
- integrated grammar production
- an error-checking challenge
- useful reminder table
- full answer key for teachers and students
The worksheet focuses especially on common B2–C1 mistakes such as I wish I know, If only we left earlier yesterday, I wish I can speak Italian, would stopped, I wish I were be, I wish I had took, wouldn’t keeps and could have see. The main classroom point is to choose the form according to the time and meaning: use a past form for an unreal present situation, the past perfect for a past regret, could / could have for unavailable ability or missed opportunity, and would / wouldn’t mainly for behaviour or external situations the speaker wants to change.
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