Essential English Grammar: Reported Speech, Conditionals, & Verb Forms
Essential English Grammar: Key Transformations
Reported Speech: Direct to Indirect
When converting direct speech to reported (indirect) speech, verb tenses and time/place adverbs often change:
Verb Tense Changes:
- Present Simple → Past Simple
- Present Continuous → Past Continuous
- Present Perfect Simple → Past Perfect Simple
- Past Simple → Past Perfect Simple
- Will → Would
- Can → Could
- Must → Had to
Time and Place Adverb Changes:
- Here → There
- This → That
- These → Those
- Now → Then
- Next week → The following week
- Today → That day
- Tonight → That night
- Tomorrow → The following day
- Yesterday → The day before
- Last week → The week before
Understanding Conditional Sentences
Conditional sentences express hypothetical situations and their consequences:
- First Conditional: If + present simple, will + infinitive (e.g., If it rains, I will stay home.)
- Second Conditional: If + past simple, would + infinitive (e.g., If I won the lottery, I would travel the world.)
- Third Conditional: If + past perfect, would have + past participle (e.g., If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam.)
Uses of the Gerund (-ing Form)
The gerund, or -ing form of a verb, functions as a noun and has several common uses:
- After prepositions (e.g., I'm good at swimming.)
- As a noun, especially when the subject of a sentence (e.g., Reading is my hobby.)
- After certain verbs:
- admit, advise, avoid, cannot help, cannot imagine, cannot stand, complete, consider, discuss, dislike, do not mind, enjoy, finish, give up, imagine, keep, mention, mind, miss, practice, recommend, regret, report, resist, risk, suggest
Uses of the Infinitive (with 'to')
The infinitive form of a verb (to + base form) also has various applications:
- After certain nouns (e.g., the decision to leave, the desire to succeed)
- After certain adjectives (e.g., It's difficult to understand.)
- After certain verbs:
- afford, agree, appear, arrange, ask, attempt, beg, choose, dare, demand, deserve, expect, fail, hesitate, hope, intend, learn, manage, mean, need, offer, prepare, pretend, promise, refuse, seem, threaten, wait, want, wish