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Seonaid! I often use your https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com It is very helpful. Now I need your personal help.

Please can you help me? I am an English teacher and I have a question about something, which I don't know/ understand.

This is a sentence from a test: Complete the sentence with the correct form of the verb. Don't you wish you ....................... a year off before going to university? (take)

The correct answer is had taken, according to the test key. My question: How do we know, that here we speak about past situation? Otherwise we could use also took.

This is form English in Mind, book 4, entry test, Cambridge, by Sarah Ackroyd.

I live and work in Bulgaria, in a small town. If my students ask me this question I do not know what to say. Please, write me soon. Krasimira Kuzeva facebook: Krasimira Kuzeva Kripadhara

KRASIMIRA KUZEVA
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    Does this answer your question? Is it correct to say 'I wish some magic happens'? tchrist gives a long list of valid constructions with 'wish'; hypotheticals require backshifting ('Don't you wish you had taken ... [but you didn't]' . Compare '[You didn't take a year off before going to university.] Don't you wish you had [done] taken a year off?') – Edwin Ashworth Oct 21 '20 at 16:06
  • For a present situation, you would say Don't you wish you were taking a year off ..., not Don't you wish you took a year off .... You can say Don't you wish you knew Bulgarian ..., but you can't use simple past after wish for extended actions like taking a year off. – Peter Shor Oct 21 '20 at 19:54

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