Practice expressing regrets
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| Do you know how to express regrets about business decisions in English? |
| Welcome to Three Step English Practice by EnglishClass101.com. In this lesson, you will practice how to express regrets about business decisions in English. |
| Let’s look at the main dialogue. |
| Two people are having a conversation. |
| I wish you had checked with me first. I was planning to have lunch with a friend tomorrow. |
| Oh no! If only I’d called you before confirming with Ms. Walton. Would you like me to reschedule with her? |
| In this conversation, you saw two expressions: |
| "I wish you had checked with me first" and "If only I’d called you before confirming." |
| Both use the structure "I wish or If only + past perfect", which we use to talk about regrets about the past—something we didn’t do but now wish we had. |
| The past perfect (had + past participle) shows that the action happened in the past and cannot be changed, but we’re expressing a strong feeling—usually regret or frustration—about that past event. |
| Let’s practice with this grammar more in this lesson. |
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