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Communicative activity: The snowball story.

Directions: The first student answers the question: If you had some money what
would you do?' Each student adds on to the story by using the idea of the student
before him. They must use could or Past Simple in the first half and would in the

second half.

E.g.:
St.l. If I had some money I'd ... (buy a car).
St.2. If I could buy a car, I'd ... (drive to Kiev).
St.3. If I could drive to Kiev, I'd ... (visit some interesting places).
St.4. If I could visit some interesting places in Kiev, I'd visit... . etc.

A fun task: try to make the story end where it began!

Wish
Wish has two uses. The first is to express regret, either for a present state of affairs or
for a past action or state of affairs.

Examples: I wish I had some money, (present)
I wish 1 'd gone to the university, (past)

There is a strong connection between these wish sentences and conditional sentences.
This can be shown by following the examples with amplifying sentences.
I wish I'd gone to the university. If I had gone to the university I could have got a
good job.(in fact, I didn't go to the university.)
/ wish I had some money. If I had some money, I could go to the cinema. ( in fact, I
don't have any money.)

These sentences accept the situation, and do not express any desire or intention.

The second use of wish is to express a desire that something should happen, or
irritation with a present situation.
Example: I wish you would come. Please, change your mind!
I wish you wouldn't do that, it really annoys me.

Wish would is similar in meaning to an imperative, and can only be used in the sort
of situation in which an imperative would be possible. We cannot say. Be thinner!,
and we cannot say I wish you would be thinner. However, we can say, Go on a diet,
and so we can say I wish you would go on a diet. (I wish you were thinner.)
Similarly, it would not make sense to say, I wish I would go on a diet. If I want
myself to go on a diet, there is nothing to stop me! If I can't do it, then I should say, I
wish I could go on a diet.

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