Talk:wish

From RFC

Contains the following section:

Optative mood

I hope, I wish, I want, I desire.

What is that for? It is incorrectly formatted and in the wrong place, or just irrelevant. — Paul G 18:39, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

I sort of see what the author of this section was getting at, as phrases using "wish" are often used to convey semantic concepts which would be expressed by an optative mood verb (in languages which possess the optative), but the simple fact is that English does not have an optative mood, and thus should not have this section. It has been removed (along with the rfc). Atelaes 06:43, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Translating

I know in that to say "I wish" in Italian you say "mi piacerebbe" or "it would be pleasing to me". But it is hard to put in a translation for "to wish". Is there any policy for these cases?

I wish this entry were fuller

I wish this entry had information on the grammatical construction for the sentences "I wish I had more money", "I wish I could speak better English", "I wish you'd shut up", "I wish I hadn't done that". --Volants 21:26, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Where is the "to wish + subjunctive" definition?

It seems strange that this usage of the word — probably the most common — is completely ignored here. (As in "I wish I were/was richer" or "He wished he had paid more attention in class.") 203.173.33.126 02:49, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

...and "I wish I could fly"?

I'm no expert on the subjunctive, but "I wish I could fly" seems to me to be the same use of "wish" but without a subjunctive. I agree this should be added but I'm not sure if there's any other intricacies in describing it grammatically. Gronky (talk) 13:40, 31 July 2012 (UTC)

Actually, that is with the subjunctive. (could is the irrealis of can; "I wish I could fly" means "I wish I were able to fly.") —Ruakh_TALK 17:42, 31 July 2012 (UTC)

Aha. Thanks.

So the could page needs to mention this, and I guess someone should make a Template:subjunctive form of (like the other Category:Form of templates). I'll do the former. Gronky (talk) 12:06, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

Note: Category:Form of templates is now at Category:Form-of templates. - dcljr (talk) 02:48, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

wish on (transitive verb) want something to happen to somebody

Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 --Backinstadiums (talk) 15:22, 31 May 2020 (UTC)

@Backinstadiums: Can confirm this is real. Do you have Microsoft's permission to post hundreds of their entries? Equinox ◑ 15:40, 31 May 2020 (UTC)

@Backinstadiums: Edited. --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:00, 31 May 2020 (UTC)