IF ONLY | WISH + past perfect simple – English Grammar Profiler

Point 79 in the category of PAST is defined as:

past perfect simple, IMAGINED PAST, the affirmative form after ‘if only’, and the affirmative and negative forms after ‘wish’ to talk about regret.

This is a rare match of grammar levels with Pearons’ GSE 62 B2:

If only I’d worked harder.
I wish we’d bought that house.

if only * _vhd _vvn 1 IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN 293 2 IF ONLY WE HAD KNOWN 62 3 IF ONLY I HAD THOUGHT 42 4 IF ONLY THEY HAD KNOWN 39

5 IF ONLY I HAD READ 35

IF ONLY SOMEONE HAD TOLD

  BBC News If only someone had told me I could listen to a podcast about depression, or watch a TED talk about how to live life to its fullest.

7 IF ONLY I HAD FOUND 32 8 IF ONLY HE HAD KNOWN 31 9 IF ONLY I HAD LISTENED 30 10 IF ONLY I HAD TAKEN 28 11 IF ONLY WE HAD DIED 24 12 IF ONLY YOU HAD KNOWN 23 13 IF ONLY SHE HAD KNOWN 22 14 IF ONLY THEY HAD LISTENED 22 15 IF ONLY I HAD GONE 18 16 IF ONLY I HAD SEEN 18

17 IF ONLY THEY HAD KEPT 17

18 IF ONLY I HAD BOUGHT 14 19 IF ONLY I HAD GOTTEN 14

20 IF ONLY I HAD PAID 13

wish * _vhd _vvn 1 WISH I HAD KNOWN 3332 2 WISH I HAD FOUND 1441 3 WISH I HAD READ 1316 4 WISH I HAD SEEN 1057 5 WISH I HAD BOUGHT 1033 6 WISH I HAD TAKEN 985 7 WISH I HAD THOUGHT 795 8 WISH I HAD GOTTEN 690 9 WISH I HAD GONE 535 10 WISH SOMEONE HAD TOLD 527 11 WISH I HAD STARTED 495 12 WISH I HAD KEPT 392 13 WISH I HAD ORDERED 353

14 WISH I HAD MADE 323

WISH I HAD DISCOVERED

  HONOLULU Magazine It’s not a combination I’ve ever considered, and I wish I had discovered it sooner.

16 WISH YOU HAD KNOWN 296 17 WISH I HAD LEARNED 274 18 WISH I HAD USED 266

19 WISH I HAD PURCHASED 250

20 WISH I HAD TRIED 240


wish * _vhd _xx _vvn 1 WISH I HAD N’T WAITED 78 2 WISH I HAD N’T BOTHERED 57 3 WISH I HAD N’T BOUGHT 56 4 WISH I HAD N’T SEEN 48

5 WISH IT HAD N’T HAPPENED 40

WISH I HADN’T WASTED

  Metro I wish I hadn’t wasted my twenties on you. 14 people tell us what they’d say to The One Who Got Away. What went wrong?

7 WISH I HAD N’T READ 34 8 WISH I HAD N’T SAID 28 9 WISH IT HAD N’T TAKEN 28 10 WISH I HAD N’T SOLD 26 11 WISH I HAD N’T SPENT 26 12 WISH I HAD NOT WAITED 26 13 WISH I HAD N’T TAKEN 25 14 WISH I HAD N’T GONE 22 15 WISH YOU HAD N’T SAID 20 16 WISH I HAD NOT BOUGHT 19 17 WISH I HAD N’T GOTTEN 18 18 WISH THEY HAD N’T GONE 18 19 WISH YOU HAD N’T ASKED 18

20 WISH I HAD NOT PURCHASED 16