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Essential English Grammar Rules and Structures

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Reported Speech

When reporting what someone said, verb tenses and other elements often change. Here are common transformations:

  • Present Simple (work) → Past Simple (worked)
  • Present Continuous (is working) → Past Continuous (was working)
  • Present Perfect (has worked) → Past Perfect (had worked)
  • Past Simple (worked) → Past Perfect (had worked)
  • Future Simple (will work) → Conditional (would work)
  • Can → Could
  • May → Might
  • Must → Had to

Examples of Reported Speech

  • Direct: "How long have you been waiting?" she asked him.
  • Indirect: She asked him how long he had been waiting.
  • Direct: "Eat your food," the mother said to the boy.
  • Indirect: The mother told the boy to eat his food.

Passive Voice

The passive voice is used when the focus is on the action rather than the doer of the action. Here's how to form it across different tenses:

  • Present Simple (make/s) → is/are made
  • Present Continuous (is/are making) → is/are being made
  • Past Simple (made) → was/were made
  • Past Continuous (was/were making) → was/were being made
  • Present Perfect (has/have made) → has/have been made
  • Past Perfect (had made) → had been made
  • Future Simple (will make) → will be made
  • Future Perfect (will have made) → will have been made
  • Gerund (making) → being made
  • Perfect Participle (having made) → having been made
  • Modal (must write) → must be written
  • Modal Perfect (must have written) → must have been written

Impersonal Passive with Verbs like 'Say', 'Know', 'Think'

These structures are often used to report general opinions or facts without specifying the source.

  • Structure 1: It + Passive Verb + That + Subject + Verb
    • Example: It is said that his house dates back centuries.
  • Structure 2: Subject + Passive Verb + Infinitive with 'to'
    • Example: This house is said to date back centuries.

Causative Verbs: Have/Get

Used to express that someone else performs an action for you.

  • Active: They are tiling my bathroom.
  • Causative: I am having the bathroom tiled.
  • Active: The decorators are decorating Tim's house.
  • Causative: Tim is having his house decorated.

Modal Verbs

Modal verbs express necessity, possibility, permission, and more.

Should, Shouldn't, Ought To (Advice/Recommendation)

Used for good ideas, advisable actions, suggestions, wishes, or to express something wrong.

  • Keywords: good idea, advisable, suggest, wish, if only, wrong, advised.

Have to, Must, Ought to (Obligation/Necessity)

Used for essential, vital, necessary, important actions, or duties.

  • Keywords: essential, vital, probably, necessary, important, duty.

Don't/Doesn't Have To, Needn't (Lack of Obligation)

Indicates that something is not necessary.

  • Meaning: isn't necessary, lack of obligation.

Mustn't, Can't (Prohibition)

Indicates that something is forbidden or not permitted.

  • Meaning: forbidden, not permitted.

Could, May, Might (Possibility)

Used to express uncertainty or possibility.

  • Keywords: certain, maybe, perhaps, possible that, not certain, not sure.

Can, Could, Will Be Able To (Ability)

Used to express ability.

  • Meaning: ability (sometimes).

Can I, Could I (Permission)

Used to ask for or grant permission.

  • Meaning: allowed, permitted, all right.

Must, Can't (Deduction/Certainty)

Used to express strong belief or certainty based on evidence.

  • Keywords: certain, sure, obvious to me, suppose, probably.

Using 'Should' for Advice or Criticism

Expressing what is advisable or what should have happened.

  • You don't study → You should study
  • You aren't studying → You should be studying
  • You haven't studied → You should have studied
  • You haven't been studying → You should have been studying

Question Words

Basic interrogative words and their Spanish equivalents:

  • Who = Quién
  • What = Qué
  • How = Cómo
  • Why = Por qué
  • Where = Dónde
  • When = Cuándo
  • Whose = De quién
  • Which = Cuál

Relative Clauses

Used to add more information about a noun.

  • Who: for persons
  • Where: for places
  • Which: for things
  • Whose: for possession
  • That: for things and persons (often interchangeable with 'who' or 'which' in defining clauses)

Conditional Sentences

Expressing hypothetical situations and their consequences.

Second Conditional (Hypothetical Present/Future)

Structure: If + Past Simple, Subject + would + Base Verb

  • Example: If he studied, he would pass. (Si estudiara, aprobaría.)

Third Conditional (Hypothetical Past)

Structure: If + Past Perfect, Subject + would have + Past Participle

  • Example: If he had studied, he would have passed. (Si hubiera estudiado, habría aprobado.)

Wish / If Only

Used to express desires or regrets.

Wish + Simple Past (Present Regret/Desire)

To express a wish about a present situation that we cannot change.

  • Example: I wish I could fly. (Situación presente que no podemos cambiar.)

Wish + Would/Could (Conditional Desire)

To express a desire for an action to start or be completed, often about someone else's behavior or a future event.

  • Meaning: Deseo de que una acción iniciada llegue a cumplirse.

Wish + Past Perfect (Past Regret)

To express regret about a past situation.

  • Example: I wish I hadn't said that. (Pesar por una situación del pasado.)

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