Past Simple of BE --- WAS/WERE

HERE and HERE you'll find exercises.

Conditional

Click on the image for a presentation on conditional and some practice.

Prepositions and relative clauses

A relative pronoun can be the object of a preposition: 

I found the keys which I was looking for.

That´s the woman who(m) I´m in love with.

• In informal English we usually put the preposition at the end of the relative clause and we omit the relative pronoun: 

I found the keys I was looking for

That´s the woman I´m in love with.

• In formal English the preposition may come at the beginning of the relative clause, before the relative pronoun.

I found the keys for which I was looking.

That´s the woman with whom I´m in love.

Note: We cannot put a preposition before that or who

More examples:

• listen to

The music is good. Julie listens to the music.
→ The music (which / that) Julie listens to is good.

• work with

My brother met a woman. I used to work with the woman.
→ My brother met a woman (who / that) I used to work with.

• go to

The country is very hot. He went to the country.
→ The country (which / that) he went to is very hot.

• come from

I visited the city. John comes from the city.
→ I visited the city (that / which) John comes from.

• apply for

The job is well paid. She applied for the job.
→ The job (which / that) she applied for is well paid

Exercise

Relative Clauses

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Human Body

Click on the image to watch an interesting video

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

                                                          CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

EXCRETORY SYSTEM

As long as, provided, providing, unless

As long as, provided and providing are subordinating conjunctions. They express condition and are used at the beginning of a subordinate clause.

As long as
We use as long as to express a condition, i.e. to say that something will happen only on condition that something else happens.	I'll lend you the book as long as you promise to give me it back next week. (= If you don't promise to give the book back next week, I will not lend you it.)
As long as expresses that one thing depends on another.	You can go to the party as long as you come back before midnight. (= You can go to the party, but you must promise to be back before midnight.)
As long as has the same meaning asproviding or UNLESSUnless is followed by an affirmative verb to express "if ... not": My leg's broken. I can't stand up unless you help me. (I can't stand up if you don't help me.) provided.	You can go to the party providing /provided you come back before midnight. We're going skiing next week providing /provided there's enough snow.

Exercise

Modal Perfect - Modal verbs 7

All modal perfect auxiliary verbs refer to the past.

FORM: Modal + Have (Infinitive) + Past Participle

1. must have done = we are almost sure something happened in the past

• Jane wasn't feeling well yesterday. She must have caught a cold.
• Bill didn't answer the phone when I called him. He must have fallen asleep.

2. can't have done = we are almost sure something did not happen in the past

• She can't have forgotten to send you an invitation. I gave her your address.
• They can't have gone to bed late. They were very tired.

3. may / might / could have done = it is possible that something happened in the past but we aren't sure.

• Laura hasn't arrived yet. She may/might/could have missed the bus.
• I didn't see Paul at work. He may/might/could have been ill.

4. could have done = we had the ability to do something in the past but did not do it.

• You could have told us about the new project!
• She could have called me when she arrived but she forgot.

5. should have / ought to have done = (a) it was the right thing to do but we didn't do it. (b) we expected something to happen but it didn't.

• You should have told him the truth.
• They ought to have received the cheque by now.

6. would have done = we wanted to do something but we didn't do it in the end.

• They would have emailed you but the Internet was down yesterday.
• I would have bought that DVD but I didn't have enough money.

7. needn't have done = it wasn't necessary to do something but we did it.

• You needn't have gone to the supermarket. I've already done the shopping.
• The weather was warm and sunny. I needn't have taken an umbrella.

Modal Perfect Quiz

Lack of necessity - Modal verbs 6

Necessity Quiz

Prohibition and Permission - Modal verbs 5

Permission, prohibition and obligation Quiz

Deduction and possibility - Modal verbs 4

Possibility/ Probability Quiz

Obligation and advice- Modal verbs 3

Obligation and advice

Ability - Modal verbs 2

Can, could and be able to Quiz

Modal verbs 1

Modals are special verbs which behave irregularly in English.
Here are some characteristics of modal verbs:

• They never change their form. You can't add "s", "ed", "ing"...
• They are always followed by an infinitive without "to" (e.i. the bare infinitive.)
• They are used to indicate modality allow speakers to express certainty, possibility, willingness, obligation, necessity, ability.

Use of modal verbs:

Modal verbs are used to express functions such as:

1. Permission
2. Ability
3. Obligation
4. Prohibition
5. Lack of necessity
6. Advice
7. possibility
8. probability

 Here is a list of modals with examples:

Modal Verb	Expressing	Example
must	Strong obligation	You must stop when the traffic lights turn red.
	logical conclusion / Certainty	He must be very tired. He's been working all day long.
must not	prohibition	You must not smoke in the hospital.
can	ability	I can swim.
	permission	Can I use your phone please?
	possibility	Smoking can cause cancer.
could	ability in the past	When I was younger I could run fast.
	polite permission	Excuse me, could I just say something?
	possibility	It could rain tomorrow!
may	permission	May I use your phone please?
	possibility, probability	It may rain tomorrow!
might	polite permission	Might I suggest an idea?
	possibility, probability	I might go on holiday to Australia next year.
need not	lack of necessity/absence of obligation	I need not buy tomatoes. There are plenty of tomatoes in the fridge.
should/ought to	50 % obligation	I should / ought to see a doctor. I have a terrible headache.
	advice	You should / ought to revise your lessons
	logical conclusion	He should / ought to be very tired. He's been working all day long.
had better	advice	You 'd better revise your lessons

Reporting Verbs

General information

There is a number of specific reporting verbs which can be used instead of say / tell / ask. These verbs tell us something about the speaker's intention and are a more exact way of reporting what someone says. These verbs give us the meaning of the original words without actually using them all.

For example:

"Honestly, I won't be late, believe me"  →  He promised not to be late.

Let's revise first the most important basic aspects of reported speech.

changes in verb tenses

"I'm going home"
He said he was going home

changes in expressions of time

"I'm going home tomorrow"
He said he was going home the following day

changes in personal pronouns and possessive adjectives

"I'm going to my uncle's home tomorrow"
He said he was going to his uncle's home the following day

When you first learn reported speech these are the aspects you need to practise. The verbs you use, therefore, are basic ones like say, tell, reply and ask.

However, if you had to interview someone, for example, and then wrote about what the person said, it would be very boring and repetitive if you used only these verbs. Here are a lot of other verbs you can use to describe or summarise what people say without repeating the same thing over and over again. These verbs give us the meaning of the original words without actually using them all.

The section below shows some of these 'reporting verbs' with their meanings and grammatical structures. You can often use verbs you wouldn't normally associate with reported speech, but if they describe the meaning of the original words then use them!

Reporting verbs
The grammar structures I've shown with these verbs are not necessarily the only structures possible. I've tried to show the ones I think are the most usual. The meaning of some verbs changes according to the structure used, so I've only included structures that have the same meaning.

accuse
to accuse someone of doing something

"It was you who ate my chocolate, Elvira, wasn't it?"
  He accused Elvira of eating his chocolate.

admit
to admit doing something
to admit that...

"OK, it was me. I ate your chocolate"
   Elvira admitted eating the chocolate.
   Elvira admitted that she had eaten the chocolate.

advise
to advise someone to do something

"Well, if I were you I'd start saving for my retirement."
   He advised me to start saving for my retirement

agree
to agree to do something
to agree that......

"Yes, you're right, I have a terrible problem."
   She agreed to have a terrible problem.
   She agreed that he had a terrible problem.

apologise
to apologise (to someone) for doing something

"I'm sorry I didn't get to the meeting."
   He apologised for not going to the meeting.

ask
to ask someone to do something

"It's very hot in here. Would you mind opening the window?"
   She asked him to open the window.

blame
to blame someone for doing something

"We lost the match because you didn't save that penalty."
   He blamed the goalkeeper for losing the match.

complain
to complain about something

"The electrician said he was coming at ten o'clock so I took time off work and waited in all morning...."
   She complained about the electrician.

congratulate
to congratulate someone on doing something

"Well done! I knew you'd pass your driving test this time."
   She congratulated him on passing his driving test.

deny
to deny doing something
to deny that...

"It most certainly wasn't me that left the front door open."
   He denied leaving the front door open.
   He denied that he had left the front door open.

explain
to explain why...
to explain that...

"Sorry I'm late. The traffic was bad and then I couldn't find a parking space."
   He explained why he was late.
   He explained that the traffic was bad.

forget
to forget to do something

"Oh no, I haven't got any money. I didn't go to the bank."
   He forgot to go to the bank.

invite
to invite someone to do something

"Would you like to come to our house for dinner on Friday?
   He invited them to come to dinner on Friday.

offer
to offer to do something for someone

"Those bags must be heavy, John. Shall I take one?"
   She offered to carry a bag for him.

promise
to promise to do something

"Yes, honest, I'll be there on time. I won't be late."
   He promised not to be late.

refuse
to refuse to do something

"Well I'm not washing up. I did it last time."
   He refused to do the washing-up.

remind
to remind someone to do something

"Remember you have to go to the bank. You forgot yesterday."
   She reminded me to go to the bank.

suggest
to suggest that someone (should) do something
to suggest doing something

"Why don't you go to the dentist if your tooth hurts?" - Hey, why don't we go to the cinema?"
   She suggested that he (should) go to the dentist. - She suggested going to the cinema

threaten
to threaten to do something

"If you're late again we'll start without you."
   They threatened to start without him.

warn
to warn someone about something
to warn someone (not) to do something

"Don't drive too quickly. The streets are very icy."
   He warned him about the ice.
   He warned him not to drive too quickly.

Exercise

Reported Speech

Basic Tense Chart

 The tenses generally move backwards in this way (the tense on the left changes to the tense on the right). - See more at: http://www.rubenvalero.com/english/content/reported-speech#sthash.UmrPMLLo.dpuf

Other verb forms

Other verb forms also sometimes change:

Things are slightly more complicated with imperatives

Time and place references

Example:

"I'm staying here until next week"
→ He said he was staying there until the following week. 

Personal pronouns

 You also need to be careful with personal pronouns. They need to be changed according to the situation.

Remember:

The verb tenses do not always follow the rules shown above

Exercises

Statements

Questions

in spite of / despite / although

in spite of / despite / although

In spite of, despite and although are all used to show a contrast but there are differences in the structures used with them.

In spite of / despite

After in spite of and despite we use a noun or a pronoun.

• We enjoyed our camping holiday in spite of the rain.
• Despite the pain in his leg he completed the marathon.
• Despite having all the necessary qualifications, they didn’t offer me the job.

Remember that the gerund (‘-ing’ form) is the ‘noun’ form of a verb.

The only difference between in spite of and despite is the ‘of’.

• Despite of the bad weather, there was a large crowd at the match.

Although

After although we use a subject and a verb.

• We enjoyed our camping holiday although it rained every day.
• Although he worked very hard, he didn’t manage to pass the exam.
• The holiday was great although the hotel wasn’t very nice.

We can use in spite of and despite with a subject and verb if we include the expression ‘the fact that’.

• In spite of the fact that he worked very hard, he didn’t manage to pass the exam.
• Despite the fact that he worked very hard, he didn’t manage to pass the exam.

Even though

Even though is a slightly stronger form of although.

• We decided to buy the house even though we didn’t really have enough money.
• You keep making that stupid noise even though I’ve asked you to stop three times.

Like although, even though is followed by a subject and a verb.

EXERCISE
EXERCISE 2