wish – English Grammar Profiler

At B1, in the English Vocabulary Profile, IT + BE + time + TO infinitive clause = something should happen: Is it time to go home yet? listen It was time to get back to work. listen Similarly, at C1, ‘time‘ can be premodified: I think  it’s about time to make a deal. listen I think  it is high time for me to get out of my house  while I‘m still alive. Insidious: Chapter 3   At […]

would rather | it’s time + CLAUSE Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, C2 point 61 in the categories of  VERBS/patterns is defined: ‘would hate’ + ‘to’ infinitive, for emphasis. An iWeb search for: would hate to _VVI 1 WOULD HATE TO SEE 1982 2 WOULD HATE TO THINK 655 3 WOULD HATE TO LOSE 315 4 WOULD HATE TO GET 151 5

would hate to-INFINITIVE Read More »

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 | WISH + past perfect simple Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile (EGP), B2 point 160 in MODALITY is defined as: ‘would’ to talk about habitual actions and events in the past Looking in iWeb corpus manually for collocates of ‘every’ ‘time‘ with ‘would’ is 1 in 5 on the usage: … my mom also helped raise my nephews, who would stay with her every summer when school was out. Gone are the days where riders would get two bikes every year. The

would (habitual past) Read More »

“Would like” is a polite expression used to indicate a desire or wish, often in making requests, invitations, or offers. The structure typically follows “subject + would like + (noun phrase OR infinitive verb)”. For instance, “I’d like to see you again” or “Would you like a drink?”. The negative form, “wouldn’t like”, can imply a hypothetical situation, such as “If I told you, you wouldn’t like it.” This phrase is commonly used in various contexts, including wanting to see, know, thank, be, have, say, use, get, add, share, make, take, ask, try, hear, think, point out, give, start and go among others.

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This blog post teaches how to express wishes and preferences using verbs like ‘like’ and ‘prefer’. It explains the difference between ‘I’d prefer’ and ‘I prefer’ and how to use ‘would’ to sound more polite and less confrontational. The post also explores examples of ‘would’ with verbs like ‘love’ and ‘hate’.

WOULD + love | prefer (politeness) Read More »