Expressing a wish

4.206 Wishes can be expressed by using a modal in a declarative sentence.

4.207 You can say what someone wants by using 'would' followed by a verb meaning 'to like'. After the verb meaning 'to like' you put a 'to'-infinitive clause or a noun group.

I would like to know the date.

I would prefer to say nothing about this problem.

We'd like to keep you here.

Oh, I hope it will be twins, I'd love twins.

4.308 You can say what someone does not want by using 'would not'.

I would not like to see it.

We wouldn't like to lose you.

Normally, when you are using 'would' with 'like' to say what someone does not want, you put 'not' after 'would'. If you put 'not' after 'like', you change the meaning slightly.

For example, if you say 'I would not like to be a student', you mean you are not a student and do not want to be one. But if you say 'I would like not to be a student', you mean you are a student and do not want to be one.

All of us would like not to have nuclear weapons.

You can also say what someone does not want by using 'would' with a verb meaning 'to dislike'.

I would hate to move to another house now.

Personally, I would loathe to be dragged into this dispute.

wishes: 'should' 4.209 You can also say what someone wants or does not want by using 'should'. 'Should' is less common than 'would', and slightly more formal.

I should like to live in the country.

I should hate to see them disappear.

preference: 'would rather', 'would sooner' 4.210 You can say that someone prefers one situation to happen by using 'would rather' or 'would sooner'.

He would rather have left it.

She'd rather be left alone.

I'd sooner walk than do any of these things.

wishes: 'would have' 4.211 If you want to say that someone wanted something to happen, although it did not happen, you use 'would have' and a past participle.

I would have liked to hear more from the patient.

She would have liked to remain just where she was.

USAGE NOTE 4.212 Another way of saying that you want something is to use 'wouldn't' with a verb or expression such as 'mind' or 'object to' which is normally used to refuse something.

I wouldn't mind being a manager of a store.

'Drink, Ted?'—'I wouldn't say no, Bryan,'

regret: 'would that' 4.213 In very old-fashioned English, 'would' is used without a subject to express a wish that a situation might be different, or to express regret that something did not happen in the past. 'Would' is followed by a 'that'-clause.

'Are they better off now than they were two years ago?'—'Would that they were.'

Would that the developments had been so easy.

When 'I', 'he', 'she', or 'it' is the subject of the 'that'-clause, the verb is usually 'were', not 'was'.

Would that I were young again, and she in my arms.

Two years ago we were told that they would be much better off by now. Would that they were.

hopes and wishes: 'may' 4.214 In very formal English, 'may' is used in interrogative sentences to express a hope or wish.

Long may they continue to do it.

May he justify our hopes and rise to the top.