Needs are a cornerstone of daydreams, tales, and blockbuster animated films.
However what if, when your wish was once granted, you came upon it wasn’t what you sought after in the end?
It is going to sound unrealistic, however that scenario is the subject of these days’s publish.
Table of Contents
What’s the meaning of the word “be careful what you wish for”?
The word “be careful what you wish for” signifies that scenarios don’t all the time prove like you be expecting. Even supposing it may be used as an immediate caution, this word can be used to touch upon somebody whose just right fortune ended up hurting them.
The significance of irony
To know the meaning of “be careful what you wish for,” you want to perceive irony.
Put merely, irony is when there’s a distinction between expectancies and fact.
Most often, irony is used when discussing books, poems, performs, and other kinds of literature.
There are two primary sorts of irony, “dramatic irony,” the place the reader understands one thing that the characters don’t, and “situational irony,” the place the result of a scenario is other than anticipated.
It’s situational irony that’s on the middle of “be careful what you wish for.”
Why wishing can also be bad
Similar to irony, there are two sorts of needs.
The first is what we would possibly time period “magical wishing,” the place you idly wish for unattainable issues, like “I wish I may fly” or “I wish my husband would come again to lifestyles.”
That sort of wishing has its personal risks, as any person who has learn tales about wish-granting genies or fairies is aware of.
The different sort of wishing is when you wish one thing would alternate on your lifestyles.
Needs for enormous quantities of cash, a brand new puppy, a reunion with somebody, or perhaps a promotion at paintings all fall into this class. We’ll name those “mundane needs.”
Even supposing mundane needs are much less bad than asking supernatural creatures for lend a hand, there’s nonetheless the potential of issues to move mistaken.
Let’s revisit irony. Say your mundane wish is to get a promotion at paintings. Sooner or later, you get a decision out of your CEO that you’re being promoted.
You’re excited, but if you ask what came about to your present manager, who’s a piece pal, the CEO is going quiet.
It seems that the one explanation why you’re getting that promotion is as a result of your pal had a middle assault and died.
It’s a dark instance, however a really perfect instance of “be careful what you wish for.”
Ahead of we stare into the abyss too lengthy, let’s imagine a much less miserable instance: profitable the lottery.
Particularly if you have monetary issues, profitable loads of cash sounds nice.
On the other hand, research have proven that many lottery winners finally end up worse off than they have been earlier than profitable.
The identical concept can also be implemented to turning into a well-known actor or singer.
Even supposing the glamor is plain, the way of life can also be alienating, and no longer everyone seems to be minimize out for it.
What the word “be careful what you wish for” in truth way
“Be careful what you wish for” isn’t essentially a caution about magical or mundane needs.
Relatively, this word way you must assume throughout the cases of your targets earlier than you execute them.
What are the conceivable negative effects? Is the entirety on your mundane wish in point of fact what you need? What would possibly move mistaken?
It’s necessary to be aware that having needs and hopes is human nature.
We’re all the time searching for tactics to make our lives higher.
This announcing isn’t an injunction in opposition to that sort of habits.
Relatively, it’s simply used to warning somebody who may well be pondering simplest of the best conceivable end result of a brand new scenario.
How to use “be careful what you wish for” in a sentence
To recap, the word “Be careful what you wish for” is used to warn folks that wants don’t all the time prove the best way they be expecting.
The use of this word is rather simple from a grammar point of view. That’s as it’s a whole clause and is nearly by no means joined with different clauses or words.
As a substitute, it stands by myself as a sentence. (If you’re no longer certain in regards to the distinction between clauses and words, learn our article on clauses vs words.)
In phrases of when to use “be careful what you wish for,” it’s worth remembering that that is sort of a unfavorable word.
In the end, you’re just about telling somebody that the wish they have got would possibly prove badly.
Be sure you know the individual neatly earlier than you inform them this.
However, you can assume of different ways to indicate conceivable issues of what they would like, via acknowledging the significance of their wish earlier than asking “Have you thought of what would possibly occur?”
Instance Sentences
Pat: “I wish you weren’t all the time placing me down like this.”
Terry: “Be careful what you wish for.”
Pat: “Wait, come again!”
This case may well be phase of a break-up. When Pat complains about how unfavorable Terry is, Terry takes it as a cue to depart.
That is an instance of situational irony, the place the required end result occurs in an sudden approach.
Meg: “I heard that John received the lottery however guess all his winnings away on the horse races and misplaced his space after stating chapter.”
Lin: “Oh, be careful what you wish for, huh?”
On this instance, “be careful what you wish for” isn’t all the sentence. The interjections “oh” and “huh” were positioned originally and finish.
On the other hand, the meaning isn’t in point of fact modified via both addition. Needless to say you most often desire a comma after oh or different interjections.


Hello fellow !! It’s me, James. I’m the proud proprietor of uggscanadaugg.ca. Languages have all the time been my hobby and I’ve studied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics and Sinology on the College of USA. It’s my utmost excitement to proportion with all of you guys what I learn about languages and linguistics generally.