English Grammar Essentials: Tenses and Reported Speech

English Verb Tenses and Usage

Present Perfect Simple

Structure: You have talked / He has talked.

Usage: It is used with ever, never, yet, just, already, recently, lately, how long...?, for, since, and in recent years.

Present Perfect Continuous

Structure: You have been working / He has been working.

Usage: It is used with for a year, since 2002, how long...?, all night, morning, day, or week.

Past Perfect Simple

Structure: You had started.

Usage: It is used with already, by the time, after, before, until, never, and just.

Past Perfect Continuous

Structure: You had been traveling.

Usage: It is used with for hours, since last April, all morning, when, until, and before.

Future Perfect Simple

Structure: You will have finished.

Usage: It is used with by this time next week, by 10 o'clock, by the end of..., by then, by August, and in three months.

Reported Speech Transformations

When converting direct speech to reported speech, the tenses shift as follows:

• Present Simple (he works) → Past Simple (he worked)
• Past Simple (worked) → Past Perfect Simple (had worked)
• Future Simple (will work) → Conditional (would work)
• Present Continuous (is working) → Past Continuous (was working)
• Past Continuous (was working) → Past Perfect Continuous (had been working)
• Present Perfect Simple (he has worked) → Past Perfect Simple (had worked)
• Present Perfect Continuous (has been working) → Past Perfect Continuous (had been working)
• Past Perfect Simple (had worked) → Past Perfect Simple (had worked)
• Past Perfect Continuous (had been working) → Past Perfect Continuous (had been working)

Changes in Modal Verbs

• Can → Could
• May → Might
• Have to → Had to
• Will → Would

Changes in Time and Place Expressions

• Now → Then
• Today → That day
• Tonight → That night
• Yesterday → The previous day
• Last week → The previous week
• A month ago → The previous month
• Tomorrow → The following day
• Next week → The following week
• Here → There
• This / These → That / Those

Reporting Verbs by Category

• En preguntas (Questions): Enquire, request, want to know, wonder.
• En órdenes (Orders): Demand, order, shout, warn.
• En súplicas y ruegos (Pleas): Beg, ask, request, demand.
• En sugerencias (Suggestions): Advise, invite, suggest, recommend.

The Passive Voice

Tense transformations in the passive voice (Active → Passive):

• Present Simple: Sell → Are sold
• Present Continuous: Are selling → Are being sold
• Past Simple: Sold → Were sold
• Past Continuous: Were selling → Were being sold
• Future Simple: Will sell → Will be sold
• Present Perfect Simple: Have sold → Have been sold
• Past Perfect Simple: Had sold → Had been sold
• Modals: Can sell → Can be sold
• Modal Perfects: Must have sold → Must have been sold
• Have to: Have to sell → Have to be sold
• Be going to: Are going to sell → Are going to be sold

Causative Structures

Sujeto + have/get + objeto + participio pasado

• Have/Get: Se conjuga en el tiempo de la frase anterior.
• Participio de pasado: Derivado del verbo de la frase anterior.

Wish Clauses

• Wish + Pasado: Se usa cuando la situación original está en presente.
• Wish + Past Perfect: Se usa cuando la situación original está en pasado.
• I wish + sujeto distinto + would: Expresa deseo de cambio o queja.

Modal Verbs and Equivalents

• Have to: Tienes que
• Need: Hace falta
• Should: Debería
• Must: Debes
• Might: Podrías

Common Modal Replacements

• Want: Would you like / May
• Prohibited / Forbidden: Mustn't
• Likely: May
• Necessary: Must
• Suggest: Should