We use the verb wish and the expression if only to express a wish. If only is more emphatic than I wish.
wish/if only + past simple/past continuous: when we want to say that we would like something to be different in the present.
e.g. I wish/if only I had a room of my own.
wish/if only + past perfect: to express regret that something happened or did not happen in the past.
e.g. I wish I had got your message earlier.
wish/if only + would: a) for polite imperative
e.g. I wish you would stop shouting.
b) to express our wish for a change in a situation or someone’s behaviour because we are annoyed by it.
e.g. I wish the wind would stop blowing.
After the subject pronouns I and we, we use could instead of would.
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