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Three teams race around London to find eight letters which will take them to the winning crowns.
Watch the series on our websites now bbclearningenglishcom.
Before I went to university, I did a job for a week that I then left.
And I could have stayed longer, but I didn't.
And I really wish I had.
I have regrets from school, from some subjects.
Yeah, I mean, if I could go back, I would study history and French a little bit more.
Hello and welcome to Learning English Grammar.
I'm Neil.
And I'm Pippa.
We've just heard some people talking about their regrets – that's things you wish you could change about your past.
And that's what this episode is all about.
We'll learn some language you need to talk about your regrets.
For example, I regret not studying.
You can read along with this podcast using the transcript on our website, bbclearningenglishcom.
Yes, I do have some regrets.
I was looking at some photos from university the other day and I had terrible fashion sense when I was younger and I regret buying so many clothes and I now have lots of clothes that don't suit me.
I wouldn't wear them anymore, so I regret buying them.
How about you?
Well, I had a few piano lessons when I was a kid and I gave up because I was lazy, basically.
But I regret that now, because I really like music and I play guitar, but I can't read music and I wish I could read music.
Well, maybe there's still time.
We've asked Phil and Beth about their regrets.
You might remember that Beth has some regrets about school and Phil regrets something about a job.
Pay attention to the kind of language they use to describe their regrets.
I have regrets from school from some subjects.
So there were some subjects I really liked and enjoyed and tried really hard in.
But with French, for example, I had no interest in it.
To be honest, I think if I'd studied French when I was learning it at school, I'd be able to speak it quite well now.
Before I went to university, I did a job for a week that I then left.
And I could have stayed longer, but I didn't.
And I really wish I had.
I regret leaving it so soon.
If I had stayed in that job, I would have earned a bit more money and gone to university with more money.
I also regret not studying harder in history, because now I love it.
So you may have heard regret used as a noun.
Beth said she has regrets.
It's also used as a verb.
Phil says he regrets leaving the job so soon.
Yes, I also heard a couple of conditional sentences in there too and the use of wish.
Here to explain more is Georgie, our resident grammar guru.
Hello Pippa and Neil.
I've come to help our listeners with some grammar we use for regrets.
OK, so why don't we start with wish?
How can we use wish, Georgie?
OK, well, we heard Phil say he wishes he had stayed longer at that job.
So the structure is wish plus had plus the past participle.
I wish I had stayed longer.
And that means Phil feels bad.
He didn't stay longer at that job and would change the past if he could.
Right.
And we often contract that, don't we?
We make it shorter.
So, I wish I had stayed longer becomes I wish I'd stayed longer.
And we heard the third conditional too.
Can you tell us about that?
Of course I can.
We use the third conditional when we want to imagine a different past.
For example, Phil said, if I had stayed in that job, I would have earned a bit more money.
It's hypothetical.
You can't change the past, but you're imagining what would be different if you didn't make that choice.
Right, so if I hadn't missed the bus this morning, I wouldn't have arrived late to work.
And how about the structure of this third conditional, Georgie?
How do we make a sentence like this?
So there are two parts of a conditional sentence, aren't there?
We have...
The condition clause, so that's the one with if, and the result clause.
So the if clause, if I had stayed in that job, we have the past perfect.
And in the result clause I would have earned more money.
We have would plus have plus the past participle.
We also heard Beth talking about her regrets about French at school.
To be honest, I think if I'd studied French when I was learning it at school, I'd be able to speak it quite well now.
And that, Georgie, is a mixed conditional, isn't it?
Yes, that's right.
That's because she's imagining how a past event would affect her life in the present.
So in this mixed conditional the if clause uses the past perfect and the result clause has would plus the base verb.
So another example, if Neil hadn't given up piano, he'd be able to play now.
And lastly, we heard regret plus a gerund.
I also regret not studying harder in history.
Yes, regret can also be a verb and after regret we use a gerund.
That's the ing form of a verb when a verb acts as a noun.
So, for example, I regret making so many plans this week.
I'm already so tired.
So, hopefully the grammar's all clear for you now.
Thanks, Georgie.
Bye.
Right, Neil, I think it's time to test what we've learned.
So we're going to play a game that we enjoy on this podcast.
We're going to build a sentence one word at a time, using mixed conditionals.
Third conditionals regret with a gerund and wish.
You can play along at home by trying to predict how we're going to structure the sentence.
So are you ready, Neil?
I am.
OK, so if she had gone to Korea, she would be able to speak Korean.
OK, let's have another one.
I wish I had been more confident and then I would have asked her out on a date.
Yes.
They regret leaving home That's it for this episode.
I've learned that Beth was terrible at French.
I've learned, Pippa, that you had terrible dress sense in the past.
That's true.
We'll be back next week to learn some more grammar tips.
In the meantime, you can test what you've learned in this episode with the worksheet or quiz on our website, bbclearningenglishcom.
Bye for now.
Goodbye.
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