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Affirmative/Negative/

Tense Use Signal Words


Question

action in the present taking always, every ,


Simple A: He speaks. never, normally,
Present N: He does not speak. place regularly, never or
several times often, seldom,
Q: Does he speak? sometimes,
facts
usually
actions taking place one if sentences type I
after another (If I talk, )
action set by a timetable or
schedule
Present A: He is speaking. action taking place in the at the moment,
Progressive N: He is not speaking. moment of speaking just, just now,
Q: Is he speaking? Listen!, Look!,
action taking place only for
now, right now
a limited period of time
action arranged for the
future
Simple Past A: He spoke. action in the past taking yesterday, 2
N: He did not speak. place once, never or minutes ago, in
Q: Did he speak? several times 1990, the other
day, last Friday
actions taking place one
if sentence type II
after another (If Italked, )
action taking place in the
middle of another action
Past A: He was speaking. action going on at a certain while, as long as
Progressive N: He was not speaking. time in the past
Q: Was he speaking?
actions taking place at the
same time
action in the past that is
interrupted by another
action
Present A: He has spoken. putting emphasis on already, ever,
Perfect N: He has not spoken. the result just, never, not
Simple Q: Has he spoken? yet, so far, till
action that is still going on
now, up to now
action that stopped recently
finished action that has an
influence on the present
action that has taken place
once, never or several times
before the moment of
speaking
Present A: He has been speaking. putting emphasis on all day, for 4
Perfect N: He has not been the course or years, since 1993,
Progressive speaking. duration (not the result) how long?, the
Q: Has he been speaking? whole week
action that recently stopped
or is still going on
finished action that
influenced the present

Past Perfect A: He had spoken. action taking place before a already, just,
Simple N: He had not spoken. certain time in the past never, not yet,
Q: Had he spoken? once, until that
sometimes interchangeable
day
with past perfect
if sentence type
progressive III (If I had
putting emphasis only on talked, )
the fact (not the duration)
Past Perfect A: He had been speaking. action taking place before a for, since, the
Progressive N: He had not been certain time in the past whole day, all
speaking. day
sometimes interchangeable
Q: Had he been
with past perfect simple
speaking?
putting emphasis on
the duration or course of
an action
Future I A: He will speak. action in the future that in a year, next ,
Simple N: He will not speak. cannot be influenced tomorrow
Q: Will he speak? If-Satz Typ I (If
spontaneous decision
you ask her,
assumption with regard to shewill help you.)
the future assumption: I
think, probably,
perhaps
Future I A: He is going to speak. decision made for the in one year, next
Simple N: He is not going to future week, tomorrow
speak.
(going to) conclusion with regard to
Q: Is he going to speak?
the future
Future I A: He will be speaking. action that is going on at a in one year, next
Progressive N: He will not be certain time in the future week, tomorrow
speaking.
action that is sure to happen
Q: Will he be speaking?
in the near future
Future II A: He will have spoken. action that will by Monday, in a
Simple N: He will not have be finished at a certain week
spoken. time in the future
Q: Will he have spoken?
Future II A: He will have been action taking place before a for , the last
Progressive speaking. certain time in the future couple of hours,
N: He will not have been all day long
putting emphasis on
speaking.
the course of an action
Q: Will he have been
speaking?
Conditional A: He would speak. action that might take if sentences type
I Simple N: He would not speak. place II
Q: Would he speak? (If I were you,
I would gohome.)
Conditional A: He would be speaking. action that might take place
I N: He would not be
putting emphasis on
Progressive speaking.
the course / duration of
Q: Would he be
the action
speaking?
Conditional A: He would have action that might have if sentences type
II Simple spoken. taken place in the past III
N: He would not have (If I had seen
spoken. that, I would
Q: Would he have have helped.)
spoken?
Conditional A: He would have been action that might have
II speaking. taken place in the past
Progressive N: He would not have
puts emphasis on
been speaking.
the course / duration of
Q: Would he have been
speaking? the action
Explanation Past Present Future

Simple Past Simple Present Future I Simple

action that takes place once, He played football He plays football He will / is going to
never or several times every Tuesday. every Tuesday. play football every
Tuesday.

actions that happen one after He played football He plays football He will play football
another and then he went and then he goes and then he will go
home. home. home.

state He loved football. He loves football. He will love football.

Past Progressive Present Future I Progressive


Progressive

action going on at that moment He was playing He is playing He will be playing


football. football. football.

actions taking place at the same He was playing He is playing He will be playing
time football and she was football and she is football and she will be
watching. watching. watching.

Past Perfect Simple Present Perfect Future II Simple


Simple

action taking place before a He had won five He has won five He will have won five
certain moment in time; matches until that matches so far. matches by then.
emphasises the result day.

Past Perfect Present Perfect Future II Progressive


Progressive Progressive

action taking place before a He had been playing He has been playing He will have been
certain moment in time (and football for ten years. football for ten playing football for ten
beyond), emphasises the years. years.
duration
Legend

Legend
action that takes place once, never or several times
actions that happen one after another
moment in time
actions that suddenly take place

action that started before a certain moment and lasts beyond that moment

period of time actions taking place at the same time

action taking place before a certain moment in time


Result
puts emphasis on the result

action taking place before a certain moment in time


Course / Duration puts emphasis on the course or duration of the action
Reported Speech

Reported Statements

When do we use reported speech? Sometimes someone says a sentence, for example "I'm
going to the cinema tonight". Later, maybe we want to tell someone else what the first
person said.

Here's how it works:

We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. (Click here for more about using 'say' and
'tell'.) If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put 'she says' and then the
sentence:

Direct speech: I like ice cream.


Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice cream.

We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person' from
'I' to 'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'.

(As I'm sure you know, often, we can choose if we want to use 'that' or not in English. I've
put it in brackets () to show that it's optional. It's exactly the same if you use 'that' or if you
don't use 'that'.)

But, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the
reported speech:

Direct speech: I like ice cream.


Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice cream.

Tense Direct Speech Reported Speech

present simple I like ice cream She said (that) she liked ice cream.

present I am living in
She said (that) she was living in London.
continuous London

She said (that) she had bought a car OR She said


past simple I bought a car
(that) she bought a car.

past I was walking along She said (that) she had been walking along the
continuous the street street.

present perfect I haven't seen Julie She said (that) she hadn't seen Julie.
I had taken English She said (that) she had taken English lessons
past perfect*
lessons before before.

will I'll see you later She said (that) she would see me later.

would* I would help, but.. She said (that) she would help but...

I can speak perfect


can She said (that) she could speak perfect English.
English

I could swim when I


could* She said (that) she could swim when she was four.
was four

shall I shall come later She said (that) she would come later.

I should call my
should* She said (that) she should call her mother
mother

might* "I might be late" She said (that) she might be late

"I must study at the She said (that) she must study at the weekend OR
must
weekend" She said she had to study at the weekend

* doesn't change.

Occasionally, we don't need to change the present tense into the past if the information in
direct speech is still true (but this is only for things which are general facts, and even then
usually we like to change the tense):

Direct speech: The sky is blue.


Reported speech: She said (that) the sky is/was blue.

Reported Questions

So now you have no problem with making reported speech from positive and negative
sentences. But how about questions?

Direct speech: "Where do you live?"

How can we make the reported speech here?

In fact, it's not so different from reported statements. The tense changes are the same, and we keep
the question word. The very important thing though is that, once we tell the question to someone
else, it isn't a question any more. So we need to change the grammar to a normal positive sentence. A
bit confusing? Maybe this example will help:

Direct speech: "Where do you live?"


Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.
Do you see how I made it? The direct question is in the present simple tense. We make a present
simple question with 'do' or 'does' so I need to take that away. Then I need to change the verb to the
past simple.

Another example:

Direct speech: "where is Julie?"


Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was.

The direct question is the present simple of 'be'. We make the question form of the present simple of
be by inverting (changing the position of)the subject and verb. So, we need to change them back
before putting the verb into the past simple.
Here are some more examples:

Direct Question Reported Question

Where is the Post Office, please? She asked me where the Post Office was.

What are you doing? She asked me what I was doing.

Who was that fantastic man? She asked me who that fantastic man had been.

So much for 'wh' questions. But, what if you need to report a 'yes / no' question? We don't have any
question words to help us. Instead, we use 'if':

Direct speech: "Do you like chocolate?"


Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.

No problem? Here are a few more examples:

Direct Question Reported Question

Do you love me? He asked me if I loved him.

Have you ever been to Mexico? She asked me if I had ever been to Mexico.

Are you living here? She asked me if I was living here.

Reported Requests

There's more! What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example:

Direct speech: "Close the window, please"


Or: "Could you close the window please?"
Or: "Would you mind closing the window please?"

All of these requests mean the same thing, so we don't need to report every word when we
tell another person about it. We simply use 'ask me + to + infinitive':

Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.

Here are a few more examples:


Direct Request Reported Request

Please help me. She asked me to help her.

Please don't smoke. She asked me not to smoke.

Could you bring my book tonight? She asked me to bring her book that night.

Could you pass the milk, please? She asked me to pass the milk.

Would you mind coming early tomorrow? She asked me to come early the next day.

To report a negative request, use 'not':

Direct speech: "Please don't be late."


Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

Reported Orders

And finally, how about if someone doesn't ask so politely? We can call this an 'order' in
English, when someone tells you very directly to do something. For example:

Direct speech: "Sit down!"

In fact, we make this into reported speech in the same way as a request. We just use 'tell'
instead of 'ask':

Reported speech: She told me to sit down.

Direct Order Reported Order

Go to bed! He told the child to go to bed.

Don't worry! He told her not to worry.

Be on time! He told me to be on time.

Don't smoke! He told us not to smoke.

Time Expressions with Reported Speech

Sometimes when we change direct speech into reported speech we have to change time
expressions too. We don't always have to do this, however. It depends on when we heard the
direct speech and when we say the reported speech.

For example:

It's Monday. Julie says "I'm leaving today".

If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Julie said she was leaving today".
If I tell someone on Tuesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving yesterday".
If I tell someone on Wednesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving on Monday".
If I tell someone a month later, I say "Julie said she was leaving that day".

So, there's no easy conversion. You really have to think about when the direct speech was
said.

Here's a table of some possible conversions:

now then / at that time

today yesterday / that day / Tuesday / the 27th of June

yesterday the day before yesterday / the day before / Wednesday / the 5th of December

last night the night before, Thursday night

last week the week before / the previous week

tomorrow today / the next day / the following day / Friday


Conditionals
What are conditionals in English grammar? Sometimes we call them 'if clauses'. They
describe the result of something that might happen (in the present or future) or might have
happened but didn't (in the past) . They are made using different English verb tenses.

There are four main kinds of conditionals:

The Zero Conditional:


(if + present simple, ... present simple)
If you heat water to 100 degrees, it boils.
Click here to learn more.
The First Conditional:
(if + present simple, ... will + infinitive)
If it rains tomorrow, we'll go to the cinema.
Click here to learn more.
The Second Conditional:
(if + past simple, ... would + infinitive)
If I had a lot of money, I would travel around the world.
Click here to learn more.
The Third Conditional
(if + past perfect, ... would + have + past participle)
If I had gone to bed early, I would have caught the train.
Click here to learn more.

The Zero Conditional


We can make a zero conditional sentence with two present simple verbs (one in the 'if
clause' and one in the 'main clause'):

If + present simple, .... present simple.

This conditional is used when the result will always happen. So, if water reaches 100 degrees, it
always boils. It's a fact. I'm talking in general, not about one particular situation. The result of the 'if
clause' is always the main clause.
The 'if' in this conditional can usually be replaced by 'when' without changing the meaning.

For example: If water reaches 100 degrees, it boils. (It is always true, there can't be a
different result sometimes). If I eat peanuts, I am sick. (This is true only for me, maybe, not
for everyone, but it's still true that I'm sick every time I eat peanuts)

Here are some more examples:

If people eat too much, they get fat.


If you touch a fire, you get burned.
People die if they don't eat.
You get water if you mix hydrogen and oxygen.
Snakes bite if they are scared
If babies are hungry, they cry

See this page about the first conditional to learn about the difference between the first
and the zero conditionals. The first conditional is about a specific situation, but the zero is
talking in general.
The First Conditional
The first conditional has the present simple after 'if', then the future simple in the other
clause:

if + present simple, ... will + infinitive

It's used to talk about things which might happen in the future. Of course, we can't know
what will happen in the future, but this describes possible things, which could easily come
true.

If it rains, I won't go to the park.


If I study today, I'll go to the party tonight.
If I have enough money, I'll buy some new shoes.
She'll be late if the train is delayed.
She'll miss the bus if she doesn't leave soon.
If I see her, I'll tell her.

First vs. Zero Conditional:

The first conditional describes a particular situation, whereas the zero


conditional describes what happens in general.

For example (zero conditional): if you sit in the sun, you get burned (here I'm talking about
every time a person sits in the sun - the burning is a natural consequence of the sitting)

But (first conditional): if you sit in the sun, you'll get burned (here I'm talking about what
will happen today, another day might be different)

First vs. Second Conditional:

The first conditional describes things that I think are likely to happen in the future, whereas
the second conditional talks about things that I don't think will really happen. It's
subjective; it depends on my point of view.

For example (first conditional): If she studies harder, she'll pass the exam (I think it's
possible she will study harder and so she'll pass)

But (second conditional): If she studied harder, she would pass the exam (I think that she
won't study harder, or it's very unlikely, and so she won't pass)
The Second Conditional
The second conditional uses the past simple after if, then 'would' and the infinitive:

if + past simple, ...would + infinitive

(We can use 'were' instead of 'was' with 'I' and 'he/she/it'. This is mostly done in formal
writing).

It has two uses.

First, we can use it to talk about things in the future that are probably not going to be true.
Maybe I'm imagining some dream for example.

If I won the lottery, I would buy a big house.(I probably won't win the lottery)
If I met the Queen of England, I would say hello.
She would travel all over the world if she were rich.
She would pass the exam if she ever studied.(She never studies, so this won't happen)

Second, we can use it to talk about something in the present which is impossible, because
it's not true. Is that clear? Have a look at the examples:

If I had his number, I would call him. (I don't have his number now, so it's impossible for
me to call him).
If I were you, I wouldn't go out with that man.

How is this different from the first conditional?

This kind of conditional sentence is different from the first conditional because this is a lot
more unlikely.

For example (second conditional): If I had enough money I would buy a house with twenty
bedrooms and a swimming pool (I'm probably not going to have this much money, it's just a
dream, not very real)

But (first conditional): If I have enough money, I'll buy some new shoes (It's much more
likely that I'll have enough money to buy some shoes)
The Third Conditional

We make the third conditional by using the past perfect after 'if' and then 'would have' and
the past participle in the second part of the sentence:

if + past perfect, ...would + have + past participle

It talks about the past. It's used to describe a situation that didn't happen, and to imagine
the result of this situation.

If she had studied, she would have passed the exam (but, really we know she didn't
study and so she didn't pass)
If I hadn't eaten so much, I wouldn't have felt sick (but I did eat a lot, and so I did feel
sick).
If we had taken a taxi, we wouldn't have missed the plane
She wouldn't have been tired if she had gone to bed earlier
She would have become a teacher if she had gone to university
He would have been on time for the interview if he had left the house at nine
Tag questions

Tag questions (or question tags) turn a statement into a question. They are often used for
checking information that we think we know is true.

Tag questions are made using an auxiliary verb (for example: be or have) and a subject
pronoun (for example: I, you, she). Negative question tags are usually contracted: It's
warm today, isn't it (not 'is it not')

Usually if the main clause is positive, the question tag is negative, and if the main clause
is negative, it's positive. For example: It's cold (positive), isn't it (negative)? And: It isn't
cold (negative), is it (positive)?

If the main clause has an auxiliary verb in it, you use the same verb in the tag question. If
there is no auxiliary verb (in the present simple and past simple) use do / does / did (just
like when you make a normal question).

There is one weird exception: the question tag after I am is aren't I.


For example: I'm in charge of the food, aren't I?

Postive sentences, with negative tags

Present simple 'be' She's Italian, isn't she?

Present simple other verbs They live in London, don't they?

Present continuous We're working tomorrow, aren't we?

Past simple 'be' It was cold yesterday, wasn't it?

Past simple other verbs He went to the party last night, didn't he?

Past continuous We were waiting at the station, weren't we?

Present perfect They've been to Japan, haven't they?

Present perfect continuous She's been studying a lot recently, hasn't she?

Past perfect He had forgotten his wallet, hadn't he?

Past perfect continuous We'd been working, hadn't we?

Future simple She'll come at six, won't she?

Future continuous They'll be arriving soon, won't they?

Future perfect They'll have finished before nine, won't they?

Future perfect continuous She'll have been cooking all day, won't she?

Modals He can help, can't he?


Modals John must stay, mustn't he?

Negative sentences, with positive tags

Present simple 'be' We aren't late, are we?

Present simple other verbs She doesn't have any children, does she?

Present continuous The bus isn't coming, is it?

Past simple 'be' She wasn't at home yesterday, was she?

Past simple other verbs They didn't go out last Sunday, did they?

Past continuous You weren't sleeping, were you?

Present perfect She hasn't eaten all the cake, has she?

Present perfect continuous He hasn't been running in this weather, has he?

Past perfect We hadn't been to London before, had we?

Past perfect continuous You hadn't been sleeping, had you?

Future simple They won't be late, will they?

Future continuous He'll be studying tonight, won't he?

Future perfect She won't have left work before six, will she?

Future perfect continuous He won't have been travelling all day, will he?

Modals She can't speak Arabic, can she?

Modals They mustn't come early, must they?

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