English Grammar: Articles, Reported Speech and Passive

Language Work: Using Articles

Use "a" or "an" depending on the sound: An hour, an umbrella, a university, a happy man.

The Definite Article: The

Pronunciation: (de) the media / the UN; (di) the editor / the American way.

Use "the" for:

• Unique things: The sun, the Princess of Wales.
• Health: A headache (dolor de cabeza).
• Transport: Catch/take the bus.
• Organizations: The Police, the Army, the UN.
• Public Buildings: The Bank, the Palace of Justice.
• Places: Cardinal points, rivers.
• Time: The 90s, seasons, the morning/afternoon.
• People and Work: The director, the editor, the French.

Zero Article: When Not to Use Articles

• Generics: People, money, newspapers.
• Health: To have diabetes, bad breath.
• Transport: On foot, go home, by bus.
• Organizations: British Airways, NATO.
• Public Buildings: Church, bed, school.
• Places: Cities, lakes, streets, mountains.
• Time: 2011, days of the week, months of the year, at night.
• People and Work: To be president, to be French, to be at work.

Reported Speech Rules and Verb Patterns

• Deny + Gerund
• Refuse + Infinitive (to + verb)
• Claim + Infinitive
• Look forward to + Gerund
• Apologize for + Gerund
• Suggest + Gerund
• Respond by + Gerund

Exercise Answers

Ej1: 1. ask, 2. stated, 3. ordered, 4. tell, 5. apologized, 6. refused, 7. suggest, 8. deny, 9. agreed, 10. claim.

Ej2: 1. ordered, 2. apologized, 3. claim, 4. denied, 5. agreed, 6. refused, 7. suggested, 8. asked.

Ej3: cadccaca.

Ej4: 1. didn't want, 2. had seen, 3. was giving, 4. had been trying, 5. has decided, 6. was, 7. were going to, 8. loved, 9. would ask, 10. had been brought up.

Ej5: 1. said, 2. spoke, 3. would, 4. was, 5. did, 6. had, 7. that, 8. was, 9. that, 10. could, 11. received, 12. told, 13. was, 14. would, 15. them.

Ej7: 1. she had, 2. Ray wanted, 3. she had, 4. to, 5. I didn't, 6. They thought, 7. should we, 8. the website was.

Reported Speech Tense Changes

• Present Simple → Past Simple
• Present Continuous → Past Continuous
• Present Perfect Simple → Past Perfect Simple
• Present Perfect Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous
• Past Simple → Past Simple
• Past Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous (was hoping → had been hoping)
• Past Perfect Simple → Past Perfect Simple
• Past Perfect Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous
• Am/Is/Are going to → Was/Were going to
• Will → Would
• Can → Could
• Must/Have to → Had to
• May → Might

Passive Voice Transformations

• Grow → Is grown
• Are growing → Is being grown
• Grew → Was grown
• Were growing → Was being grown
• Have grown → Has been grown
• Had grown → Had been grown
• Will grow → Will be grown
• Are going to grow → Is going to be grown
• Can grow → Can be grown
• Would grow → Would be grown
• Have to grow → Has to be grown

Passive Voice Examples

Ej6:

• People say that Mykonos reminds them of Ibiza → It is said that Mykonos reminds people of Ibiza.
• It is generally said that Christmas is too commercialized → Christmas is said to be too commercialized.
• It is said that the Vikings discovered America → The Vikings are said to have discovered America.

Ej7: Have/get something done; have/get someone to do something.

Phrasal Verbs with Make and Do

• Do with: To need (necesitar).
• Do without: To live without something (vivir sin algo).
• Do up: To fasten (abrocharse).
• Done away with: To eliminate (eliminar).
• Did me out of: To cheat (engañar).
• Make for: To move in the direction of (moverse en la dirección de).
• Made off: To leave in a hurry (salir a toda prisa).
• Made up for: To compensate (compensar).
• Made up to: To be nice to get something (ser amable para conseguir algo).
• Made up: To apologize and stop arguing (disculparse y parar de discutir).