Hello and welcome to today's ESL Empowerment lesson. Our theme today is: "Stop hoping and start doing!" We will compare three similar words — hope, wish and want — that differ in meaning and can negatively affect one's mindset.

By the end of this lesson, you may be inspired to eliminate two of the words from your vocabulary.

First, hope. People hope for something that might happen or use the word when expressing passive thoughts about situations beyond their control. For example, saying, "I hope my uncle will buy me a fancy car," reflects a passive desire.

Do any students say, "I hope my homework gets done," hoping the homework god will do it for them? No. However, many people hope for unlikely things over which they have no control, such as "I hope Kim Jong-un will resign next month."

"Wish" is similar but even more passive than hope. Even as we say "wish," we know our desires are unlikely to come true and are out of our control. For example, "I wish Jeff Bezos would transfer $1 billion to my bank account tomorrow."

Unless you own something Bezos wants to buy, like several newspaper businesses, this is improbable and completely beyond your control. Wishes often........

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