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Defining and non-defining relative clauses

Relative clauses

Relative clauses are also known as adjective clauses because they behave like an adjective
that modifies a noun. This noun can be the subject or the object of a sentence. The relative
clauses go after the word they refer to.

Relative clauses are introduced by relative pronouns. The most prevalent relative pronouns
are:

who: Referring to a person

which: Referring to a thing
that: Referring to a person or a thing

TYPES OF RELATIVE CLAUSES

We have to distinguish between “defining” and “non-defining” relative clauses.

Defining relative clauses (specifying)

This type of relative clauses is used to specify the thing or person we refer to. That means, it
gives us clues to identify the subject out of a group of possible referents.

Have a look at this sentence:

A boy is wearing a blue jacket. He is very attractive.

We can make one sentence out of the two:

The boy who is wearing a blue jacket is very attractive.

As you can see, in the second sentence we substituted “he” with “who” adding important
information about the boy to identify him.

We use the relative pronoun “who” because we refer to a person.

Nevertheless, when we refer to a thing we use the relative pronoun “which”:

The house was expensive. I bought it last year.

The house which I bought last year was expensive.

In this example, we substituted “it” with “which”, adding again information without which we
couldn’t know what the sentence refers to.

In both cases we could have used the relative pronoun “that”, which is used for people and
things:

The boy that is wearing a blue jacket is very attractive.

The house that I bought last year was very expensive.
Omission of the relative pronoun

In this type of relative clause (defining) the relative pronoun doesn’t act like a subject in the
relative clause, and so it is possible to omit it.

The book that you gave me yesterday is exciting.

The book you gave me yesterday is exciting.
Here is the skirt that you gave me.
Here is the skirt you gave me.

We realize that, when a pronoun comes after the relative clause, we can omit the relative,
but not when there is a verb, because in that case it acts as a subject and cannot be omitted.

Compare:

I know these children who are in the street.

This is the movie that we saw last week. / This is the movie we saw last week.

Non-defining relative clauses (explaining)

This type of clause is used to give more information about a person or a thing. Nevertheless, this
information is not important to identify the person or the thing we are talking about. It is additional
information is not essential.

These relative clauses have two main characteristics:

- They go between commas.

- The relative pronoun cannot be substituted with
“that”.

Our new house, which [not that] you saw last week, is very luxurious.

Compare the two following examples. One of them contains a non-defining relative clause,
and the other one contains a defining relative clause:

The boy who came to my house is my cousin.

My uncle Tom, who lives in Mexico, is coming to visit us.

In the first sentence, we are specifying the boy (one out of many) who is the cousin.

In the second sentence we are saying that the uncle (who, by the way, lives in Mexico) is
going to visit us. Maybe you know him, maybe you don’t, but the comment is not necessary
to help identify him.

In the following table we summarize all that in a more explicit way:

 Defining relative clauses
(specifying)
All the relative pronouns can be used, although
the most usual one is “that”, because it refers
to people and to things.
The relative pronoun can be omitted, if it is not
the subject in the relative clause.
They are necessary for the universal
significance of the sentence.
They don’t go between commas.

Non-defining relative clauses

(explaining)
We cannot use the relative pronoun “that”. We
remember that “who” refers to people and
“which” refers to things.
The relative pronoun cannot be omitted.
They are not necessary for the understanding
of the sentence, they only give extra
information.
They always go between commas.

Other relative pronouns are “whose”, “where”, “when” and “what”

Whose: This relative pronoun is used to express possession. It always refers to people and
we find it in both, defining and non-defining, relative clauses.

The woman bought some sweets. Her son is a doctor.

The woman whose son is a doctor bought some sweets.

In this sentence, we substituted “her” with “whose” because “her” refers to “woman”. In this
way, we make one sentece out of two senteces and avoid repeating “woman”.

That is the man. His daughter is studying law.

That is the man whose daughter is studying law.

In this sentence, we substituted “his” with “whose” and therefore, we can make a simple
sentence.

Where: This relative pronoun is used to give information about a certain place. “Where” usually
substitutes words like “here” or “there”.

This is the store. I bought my suit here.

This is the store where I bought my suit.

In this example we substituted “here” with “where”. Note that the word “here” doesn’t appear
anymore in the second sentence. The first two sentences become one sentence.
 That is the village. I was born there.
That is the village where I was born.

In this example we substituted “there” with “where”.

When: This relative pronoun is used to refer to time. Ususally it substitutes words like “year”,
“month” or “week”. In this case we can use “that” and “when”.

I remember that day. He visited us that day.

I remember the day when / that he visited us.

We put the two sentences together to make a single sentence by substituting “that day” with
“when / that”.

What: We use “what” to refer to something indefinite.

I couldn’t hear what he said.

(The thing(s) that he said)
What happened was my fault.
(The thing(s) that happened)

But be careful, in other contexts it must be “which”:

The weather was really bad, which was a pity.

(The fact that the weather was bad)

They came to the party, which we didn’t expect.

(The fact that they came)

“what” as a relative pronouns means “the thing(s) that...” and “which” in that context means
“the fact that ...”.

Indirect questions

Indirect questions

There are two main ways of asking questions – directly and indirectly. Both have the same
meaning but indirect questions are used when we try to be more polite, more
formal or less confrontational. We usually use them when talking to a person we don’t
know very well, or in professional situations, and their form is a little different.

They are introduced by constructions like:

Do you know...?
Can you tell me...?
Can I ask you...?
Could you tell me…?
 Do you think I could ask you...?
Would you mind telling me...?

I’d like to know...

I wonder...
I wonder if I could ask you...
I wonder if you could tell me...

Compare the following sentences:

Direct question: Have they arrived?

Indirect question: I’d like to know if they have arrived.

The first sentence expresses a direct question, the second one expresses an indirect question,
but the information we are asking for is the same.

As we can see, there are some differences between them:

In one case it is not necessary to use a question mark at the end. Nevertheless, when we use
constructions like “Do you know...?” or “Can you tell me...?” we need to use a question mark,
because these constructions are introduced by direct questions.

We introduced the sentence by using “if”, so we expect an answer which is “yes” or “no”. If
the direct question is introduced by interrogative pronouns like “Why”, “How”, “Where”,
“What”, etc., in indirect questions, the question mark disappears.

Direct question: Why is he so angry?

Indirect question: I’d like to know why he is so angry.

The order of subject and verb in the second sentence is affirmative, that means: subject +
verb.
Have a look at some examples about how to form indirect questions based on direct questions.

Direct question: What time is it?

Indirect questions:
Do you know what time it is?
Can you tell me what time it is?
I wonder what time it is.
I’d like to know what time it is.

Direct question: Can she swim?

Indirect questions:
Do you know if she can swim?
Can you tell me if she can swim?
 I wonder if she can swim.
I’d like to know if she can swim.

In the first example, the sentence is introduced by the interrogative pronoun “what” and it
maintains the indirect question. But in the second case, when we expect “yes” or “no as an
answer, we need the particle “if” (or also “whether”) to form the indirect question.

Asking for and expressing opinions

Asking for and expressing opinions

Asking for opinions

When we want to know somebody’s opinion of something, we use the following questions:

What do you think about / of ... ?

(the weather, my new car, your boss, etc.)
What’s your opinion of ... ?
(the team, the President, etc.)

Expressing opinions

In English, there are many forms to express our opinion. The most prevalent ones are:

In my opinion ...
I think ...
I believe + phrase
I feel
I find it / ... / -ing

Have a look at some examples for every form:

In my opinion people shouldn’t smoke.

I think you should study law.
I believe things will be different in the future.
I feel I am not studying enough.
I find this movie / it / watching movies quite interesting.

We use the verb “to agree” to express that we share an opinion with somebody else”:

I agree with Jim.

I agree that most people have no time for sports nowadays.

To express the opposite we use the verb “to agree” in its negative form or the verb “to disagree”:

I don’t agree with you.

OR I disagree with you.
Agree and disagree can also be expressed in the following ways:

“Agreements”:

When we agree with an affirmative sentence that was said just before:
So + auxiliary + I

When we agree with a negative sentence that was said just before:
Neither + auxiliary + I

See some examples:

A- I like pop music.

B- So do I.

A-I don’t like rock music.

B- Neither do I.

A- I can understand him.

B- So can I.

A- I can’t imagine such a world.

B- Neither can I.

Note: Remember that, when we talk of auxiliaries that substitute a verb, the auxiliaries that are
required for the simple tenses is “do” and “does” (present) or “did” (past).

Modals in perfect tenses

Modals in Perfect tenses

In perfect tenses, the modal verbs are formed by the modal followed by the perfect infinitive.
See the following example:

Modal + have + participle

She can’t have finished.

We are going to see all the forms and uses in this chapter.

We use “can’t + have + participle” when something couldn’t possibly have happened in a
certain way.

You can’t have written such a nice poem.

We use “must + have + participle” when we are so sure about something that happened
in the past that we get our own logical conclusion.
 Their car is parked there.
They must have caught the bus.

We use “may + have + participle” when we are not absolutely sure about what happened
in a certain moment, but we suppose so. (Remember that “may” and “might” indicate a
possibility).

He may / might have come,

but I was out all day.

“Could + have + participle” can be used in two different ways:

a) When we express that we had the possibility to do something in the past, but we didn’t
do it.

We could have visited the museum.

(but we didn’t)

b) When we assume something that could have happened in the past. In this case “might /
may + have + participle” are interchangeable.

They could / might / may have taken a taxi.

(it’s possible, but we don’t know)

“Should / Ought to + have + participle” is used to reproach about something that should
have been done, but wasn’t. Also, when a good piece of advice wasn’t followed or somebody
regrets not having done something.

You should / ought to have taken an umbrella.

I should / ought to have studied harder.

“Would + have + participle”

This form is called conditional perfect and it expresses the third type of the conditional tense
which we are going to explain in this chapter.

This form is used when we want to speak about something which is impossible to happen
because the moment already passed. As we can see, the sentence is left incomplete. It would
be followed by a hypothetical or conditional clause.

I would have gone to the party ...

but I cannot, because the party is already over
I would have bought that book ...
but the time has already passed

Expressing wishes and regret: I wish / if only

I wish / If only

These forms are used to express wishes, when things are not as we want them to be.
 I wish I were rich.

In this case, the verb “to be” in past tense is “were” for all the persons, including the first and
third person singular.

In this chapter we are going to see two different ways of using the expressions “I wish” and
“If only”.

I wish / If only + Past

We can see that, although the verb is in the past tense, we refer to the present or the future.
That means, we would like something to be different. We can use both expressions, “I wish”
and “If only”, in the same way.

I wish / If only I had more money.

I wish / If only Peter didn’t live in Australia.
I wish / If only she were still living here.
I wish / If only I could travel to the moon.
I wish / If only + Past Perfect

In this case, we express wishes in the past or regret that something which has happened in
the past didn’t happen in the way we would have wanted it to happen.

So, for that kind of sentence we use the Past Perfect tense.

I wish / If only I had studied harder.

I wish / If only she had bought that skirt.
I wish / If only it hadn’t rained last night.
I wish / If only I had had a cat when I was a child.

Connectors

Connectors

Connectors are, as the name suggests, words that are used to connect ideas. Their use is
very important in spoken and written English; especially in written texts and large documents,
because they help us to develop our ideas fluently.

If we don’t use connectors, or we use them in a wrong way, we possibly make the impression
of an infantile, insecure or poor language.

We already know some basic connectors, like “and”, “but”, “because”, “in order to”, etc., but
now we are going to learn some more. Below they are classified depending on the idea they
express:

 Showing contrast between the idea and the unexpected result:

Although
It is not separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence, but when it stands at the
beginning of a sentence, the two clauses are separated by a comma.
Example:
Although it was cold, I went swimming.
However
It is separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Example:
It was cold; however, we went swimming.
We all know that smoking is a bad habit.
However, people still smoke.
Nevertheless
It is separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Examples:
It was cold; nevertheless, we went swimming.
We all know that smoking is a bad habit.
Nevertheless, people still smoke.
Despite
It is not separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Example:
We went swimming despite the cold weather.

 Showing the direct opposite of an idea:

However
It is separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Example:
Luke is nice; however, Glenn is very unpleasant.
On the other hand
It is separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Example:
Luke is nice. Glenn, on the other hand, is very unpleasant.
While
It is not separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Example:
John is nice, while Glenn is very unpleasant.

 Showing a relation of cause and effect:

As
It is not separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence, but when it stands at the
beginning of a sentence, the two clauses are separated by a comma.
Example:
As she wasn’t interested in rock music, she decided not to go to the concert.
Since
It is not separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence, but when it stands at the
beginning of a sentence, the two clauses are separated by a comma.
Example:
Since heavy rain is predicted for tonight, we’d better stay at home.
Seeing that
It is not separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence, but when it stands at the
beginning of a sentence, the two clauses are separated by a comma.
Examples:
Seeing that she could do nothing about it, she decided to drop the subject.

Due to
It is not separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence, but when it stands at the
beginning of a sentence, the two clauses are separated by a comma.
Examples:
Due to the bad weather, we had to take a taxi.
The flight was cancelled due to the fog.

 Expressing intention or purpose:

So that
It is not separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Example:
She turned off the TV so that her son could study.

 Expressing consequence:

Therefore
It is used in the same way as “so”, but it is more formal. It is separated by a comma from
the rest of the sentence.
Example:
I did not study. Therefore, I failed the test.
I did not study. I, therefore, failed the test.
I did not study. I failed the test, therefore.

 Developing a chain of thoughts:

Moreover
It is separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Example:
He is very healthy. He eats a balanced diet. Moreover, he does physical exercise
regularly.
Besides
It is usually separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Example:
He eats a balanced diet. Besides, he does physical exercise regularly.

Besides taking a balanced diet, he does physical exercise regularly.

In addition
It is not separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Example:
In addition to taking a balanced diet, he does physical exercise regularly.

Third conditional

Third conditional
Use: The third conditional is used to speak about the consequences which a certain condition
would have had, if it had been fulfilled in the past. But as it wasn’t fulfilled, now the consequence
is impossible to happen.

If he had studied harder, he would have passed his tests.

(But he didn’t and so he didn’t pass them.)

If I had asked her to dance, we would have gone out together.

(But I didn’t and now she goes out with somebody else.)

If he hadn’t stolen the bag, the police wouldn’t have caught him.
But he did, the police caught him and now he is in prison.

Form:

Subordinate clause:
If + Past Perfect
Main clause:
Conditional Perfect

IF + PAST PERFECT
CONDITIONAL PERFECT

If I had known, I would not have come.

If you had lived in to Spain, you would have learned more Spanish.

Like in the first and the second conditional, we always have to remember that:

The two parts of the sentence are exchangeable:

I would have bought it if I had had enough money.

= If I had had enough money, I would have bought it.

There can be modal verbs. In this case, “might” or “could” + “Present Perfect” instead of
“would” of the “Conditional Perfect”. Compare:

If you had asked him, he would not have let you go.

If the condition would have been fulfilled, I am sure that this would have been the
consequence

If you had asked him, he might not have let you go.

I don’t know what would have happened if the condition would have been fulfilled, but it
is possible that this would have been the result.

Verb patterns: Verb + object + infinitive

Verb + Object + Infinitive

In other units we have seen that there are verbs or constructions that are followed by other
verbs in the infinitive (want to, expect to, would like to, etc.) and others that require the
gerund form of the following verb (hate, suggest,mind, etc.).

In this unit, we are going to see the verbs that are followed by an infinitive when the subject
of the second clause varies.

Compare:

when the subject is the same

Verb + Infinitive
He wants to live with you.

when there are two subjects

Verb + Object + Infinitive
He wants Mary to live with you.

As you can see, the rule is to introduce the subject of the second sentence (or subordinate
sentence) between the main verb and the infinitive, without changing the rest of the sentence.
In case that the second subject is a pronoun instead of a proper noun, it has to be changed to
the object form: me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them.

He wants her to live with you.

I want you to leave me alone.

I want him to start the course.

She wants us to see her apartment.

He wants them not to run.

Here is a list with the most prevalent verbs that have these characteristics:

VERB EXAMPLE

advise He advised me to leave that place.

allow They allowed me to use the car.
ask He asked her not to open the box.
expect I expected him to come earlier.
invite She invited us to go to her party.
order He ordered them to do it.
permit They permitted her to goswimming.
tell I told you not to send that letter.
want I want you to pay more attention.
Attention to two verbs that follow the structure: Verb + Object + Infinitive, but that have the
particular characteristic that the infinitive goes without “to”:

VERB EXAMPLE
He made his students repeat the
make
exercise.
help She helped me understand it.
let My parents let you stay out late.

Modal verbs: uses of 'may/might', 'could/can', may/might/could/must/can't'

and 'would'

Modal verbs

In this unit we are going to see other uses of modal verbs and learn some new ones.

MAY & MIGHT: We will start by looking at the common meaning of these verbs.

Possibility in the future: These two verbs are used to express possibility in the future, but
there is a difference of meaning between them:

May: Refers to a possibility in the future.

She may come.

Might: Refers to a more remote possibility in the future.

He might find it.

COULD & CAN

Possibility in the present: These two verbs are used to express possibility in the present.
But there is also a difference of meaning between them:

Can: Refers to the present.

He can come.

Could: Also refers to the present. But in this case the probability is less than when we use
“can”.

He could come.

MAY, MIGHT, COULD, MUST & CAN’T

Deduction in the present: These verbs are used to express deduction at the moment of
speaking. There is a scale of possibilities between them. For a better understanding of the
differences we use the same example in different situations:
Must: If we are sure that what we are saying is certain.

He must be working. (We know that at this time he is working and that he cannot be
somewhere else.)

Could: In this case, there is a factor of possibility.

He could be working. (The fact that he is working is a possibility.)

May: There may be the possibility that something happened.

He may be working. (Maybe he is, maybe he is not.)

Might: In this case the possibility is more remote.

He might be working. (I don’t know where he is, but I think that he’s working.)

Can’t: In this case, we express impossibility.

He can’t be working. (We know that he cannot be working, because he is ill, in the
hospital, unemployed, etc...)

WOULD: This auxiliary is used to express a result in a conditional sentence. Regarding its
form remember the rules for the verbs we have seen before.

He would write.
She wouldn’t work.

Modal verbs: permission and ability

Modal verbs

Permission

To ask for or give permission we can use the modal verbs “can” and “may” and the form “to
be allowed to”.

a) Can - It is used to ask for / give permission in an informal way, when we have a personal
relation with the person we ask for / give permission.

Can I use your phone?

You can borrow the car tonight.

b) May - It is used to ask for or give permission in a more formal way, when we feel less
close to the person we ask for / give permission, or when we don’t know the person. We can
also use “could”, which is more formal than “can”.

May I use your phone?

You may leave the room.
c) To be allowed to - This is a passive construction and the verb “to be” has to be conjugated
in a way that corresponds with the subject.
Have a look at the following examples:

Am I allowed to sing a song?

You aren’t allowed to talk aloud in the library.
She is allowed to use the fax in the office.

Ability

To express ability we use the verb “can” in present tense, “could” in past tense and “to be able
to” in all tenses.

a) Can / Could - As you know, the verb “can” has only one form in the present, and one in
the past tense, “could”. In the first case we express ability in the present, and in the second
case it is the ability in the past tense. We talk about ability in the sense of knowing how to do
something.

I can swim.
I could swim.
I can type.
I could type.

b) To be able to.- Can be used with all the tenses to express ability.

In present tense it has the same meaning as “can”, but “to be able to” is not so frequently used.

He is able to read a French newspaper.

He can read a French newspaper.

In the past it can have the same meaning as “could”.

He was able to swim when he was a child.

He could swim when he was a child.

Nevertheless, when we use “to be able to” saying that somebody is able to do something in
a certain moment in the past, we cannot say “could”. Compare:

He could swim.
(He could do so every possible moment.)
He was able to swim across the river.
(in a determined moment)

In all the other tenses “to be able to”.

To express ability in the future, we use “will + be able to”.

He will be able to play the piano.

She won’t be able to speak German in two years.
In the perfect tenses we also use “to be able to”:

She has been able to swim. (Present Perfect)

They have been able to play the piano.
He had been able to learn that poem.
(Past Perfect)

Verb patterns: Verbs + infinitive or gerund

Verb patterns: Verbs + infinitive vs. Verbs + gerund

Some verbs are immediately followed by an infinitive and others by a gerund.

For example:

He pretended to be ill.
He wanted to come but he couldn’t.
He seemed to be worried.
BUT:
He didn’t mind going back to the beginning.
He admitted being guilty.

We classify the verbs:

Verbs that are followed by an infinitive.

Verbs that are followed by a gerund.
1. VERB + INFINITIVE

a) Verbs that are followed by an infinitive:

VERB EXAMPLE
afford She can afford to buy a new house.
agree We agreed to meet again.
arrange We arranged to leave at seven.
They attempted to escape from the
attempt
house.
choose They chose to ignore my warning.
decide We decided to leave early.
expect We expect to pass our exams.
forget He forgot to leave the car.
hope She hopes to go to university.
manage He didn’t manage to pass the test.
need You didn’t need to tell her.
offer She offered to come with me.
plan They are planning to go on holiday.
pretend She pretended to be ill.
promise He promised to come.
refuse He refused to go.
seem He seemed to be very happy.
tend The temperature tends to increase.
threaten He threatened to tell her mother.
want I want to study law.
b) Verb + object + infinitive:

VERB EXAMPLE
He advised me to leave that
advise
place.
allow They allowed me to use the car.
He asked her not to open the
ask
box.
She challenged meto do
challenge
something dangerous.
She encouraged meto live on my
encourage
own.
expect I expected him to come earlier.
Their parents forbidthem to go
forbid
out at night.
She forced him to eat the piece
force
of cake.
help She helped me to understand it.
I didn’t intend youto hear the
intend
remark.
His family invitedme to stay with
invite
them.
They permitted herto go
permit
swimming.
Jane persuaded meto attend the
persuade
lecture.
The doctor recommended meto
recommend
stay in.
You didn’t remindme to bring
remind
some food.
teach Who taught you to cook?
I told you not to send that
tell
letter.
I want you to pay more
want
attention.
warn She warned me not to touch it.
I would like you to recall your
would like
decision.
would I would prefer younot to make
prefer such a request.

c) Verb + object + infinitive without ‘to’:

Some verbs are followed by an object and an infinitive without ‘to’.

 VERB EXAMPLE
He made his pupils repeat the
make
exercise.
let My parents let me stay out late.
help She helped me understand it.*

Connectors: expressing cause and effect

Expressing cause and effect

We are going to see some connectors which are used to express the cause or reason of a
particular situation.

Because, As, Since

These connectors have the same meaning. They are followed by a clause and when they go
at the beginning of the whole sentence, main sentence or subordinate sentence, they must
be separated by a comma.

I didn’t write you a letter as / because / since I was very busy.

As / Because / Since I was very busy, I didn’t write you a letter.

Note: To express cause we can also use “because of” / “due to” + noun.

Compare:

As / Because / Since + Phrase

She was late because there was a lot of traffic.

Because of / Due to + Noun

She was late because of the traffic.

Reported speech: questions

Reported questions

In English, there are two types of questions. The ones that can be answered by “Yes” or “No”,
known as “Yes / No questions”, and the ones that are introduced by an interrogative pronoun,
known as “Wh-questions”.

“Do you like swimming?”

(we expect “Yes” or “No”)
“What did you buy?”

Yes / No questions
Putting a question with these characteristics into reported speech, needs the following
changes:

a) The verbal tenses change, moving back one step into the past.

b) The clause we are changing is introduced by “if” or “whether”.

c) We have to change pronouns, expressions of time and place.

d) Although the interrogative clause has the structure of subject and verb inverted, in its
indirect form the structure is that of an affirmative clause.

e) These indirect clauses are introduced by the verbs “ask”, “want to know”.

f) The questions in reported speech don’t have speech marks anymore and not even question
marks.

“Do you like swimming?” I asked him.

I asked him if he liked swimming.

In this example we changed the subject “you” to “he”, the present tense “do you like” to the
past tense “liked”, the structure is subject + verb, and the modified clause in reported speech
is introduced by “if”.

“Did you park your car here yesterday?” Susan asked Peter.
Susan asked Peter if he had parked his car there the day before.

“Will you come to my party?” She asked Anne.

She asked her / wanted to know if Anne would go to her party.

Wh-questions

When the question in direct speech is introduced by an interrogative pronoun, this one also
introduces the clause in reported speech. The changes are the same.

“Where did you buy this shirt?” Anne asked Peter.

Anne asked Peter / wanted to know where he had bought that shirt.

“Who came with you yesterday?” I asked Anne.

I asked Anne / wanted to know who had come with her the day before.

“What have you eaten?” I asked her.

I asked her / wanted to know what she had eaten.

In the second example, “Who” is the subject of the sentence and therefore no other subject
appears it doesn’t appear any other subject. There is no change of word order.

Compare:

“What happened?” I asked her.

 I asked her what had happened.
(in this case, “what” is the subject)

“What have you bought?” I asked her.

I asked her what she had bought.
(in this case, “she” is the subject)

Reported speech: commands

Command in Reported speech

Commands usually stand in the imperative form. The necessary changes are:

a) The verb in imperative becomes infinitive with “to”.

b) The verb that introduces the direct command is “tell” and not “say”, because the verb “say”
doesn’t mean “command”, but the verb “tell” does.

c) “Tell” is followed by the person who receives the command. We can also use the verb
“order”.

d) If the structure is negative, the infinitive must be negative. (not + to + infinitive).

“Open the door!” Anne said to / told me.

Anne told me to open the door.

“Be quiet!” She said to / told him.

She told him to be quiet.

“Don’t do that!” I said to / told Susan.

I told Susan not to do that.

“Don’t play with that!” She said to / told me.

She told me not to play with that.

Now we have a look at the difference between the verbs “to say” and “to tell”.

Regarding the form, the verb “tell” is followed by an indirect object, while the verb “say”
doesn’t need any indirect object. In case that there is one, it is introduced by “to”.

She told me that she was tired.

She said that she was tired.
She said hi to me (that she was tired).
Reported speech: modal verbs

Modal verbs in reported speech

We can also find modal verbs in the clauses of reported speech. Let’s see which of them
change and how.

We have to move back one step in time. But some modals and semi-modals don’t have past
forms or are always used in the past tense, like “used to”.

The modal verbs that don’t change from direct speech to reported speech are:

VERB DIRECT / INDIRECT

“Would you mind opening the door?”

would He asked me if I would mind opening
the door.

“You should / ought to buy a new

should / house.”
ought to She said (that) I should / ought to
buy a new house.

“Could you come to my house?”

could She asked me if I could go to her
house.

“It might rain.”

might
She said (that) it might rain.

“You needn’t do the washing up.”

needn’t She told me (that) I needn’t do the
washing up.

“I used to go swimming as a child.”

used to He said (that) he used to go
swimming as a child.

“We had better call the police.”

had
better She said (that) they had better call
the police.

Nevertheless, there are other modals that change when put into reported speech:
 DIRECT / INDIRECT

may
“I may go to the theater”
might
She said (that) she might go to the theater.

must
“You must wear a uniform”
had to
She said (that) I had to wear a uniform.

can
“I can’t hear very well”
could
She said (that) she couldn’t hear very well.

shall
“Shall I call your sister?”
should
She asked if she should call my sister.

Reported speech: characteristics

Reported Speech

In English, like in other languages, there are two forms of telling something that was said
before:

a) Repeating exactly the same, putting them between quotation marks, that is direct speech.

b) Saying what was said before in other words, that is indirect/ reported speech.

We have to distinguish between “statements” (affirmative or negative formulated sentences),

“questions” (interrogative sentences) and “commands” (imperative sentences).

Statements in reported speech

Let’s start with the changes that are necessary when we put an affirmative or negative
sentence into reported speech.

Those changes are the following ones:

- They don’t go between quotation marks.

 - Sentences in indirect style usually are introduced by verbs like “say”, “tell”, “explain”,
etc.

- Regarding the tenses, we make one step back. We will see that better in the
paragraph about the verbal tenses.

- We also have to change deictic expressions, i.e. temporal expressions, pronouns, etc.

Let’s have a look at the changes in the following example. We are going to study them step
by step.

“I saw your mother yesterday”, Susan said to Joan. (direct)

Susan said to Joan (that) she had seen her mother the day before. (indirect)

Now see the changes of every word:

I  she (subject)
saw  had seen (verb)
your mother  her mother (object)
yesterday  the day before (adverb)

As you can see, there are three sorts of changes:

a) Change of person:

All the pronouns and adjectives in direct speech refer to the first person, in the reported
speech they have to refer to the third person:

I  he
my  her

We have to adjust the uses of the pronouns and adjectives to the new context:

“You look tired.”  She said I looked tired.

b) Change of tense:

In the following table, we see the changes of the tenses:

DIRECT INDIRECT
Present simple Past simple
He studies math ...he studied math

Past continuous
Present continuous
...he was studying
He is studying math
math

Present perfect Past perfect

He has studied math ...he had studied math

Past simple Past perfect

He studied math ...he had studied math

Past perfect continuous

Past continuous
...he had been studying
He was studying math
math

Past perfect Doesn’t change

He had studied math ...he had studied math
Conditional
Future
... he would study
He will study math
math

As you can see, it is like moving one step back in time, except regarding the Future Simple,
which becomes Conditional.
c) Local and temporal change:

Regarding the changes of local and temporal expressions, see the list below:

DIRECT INDIRECT
Temporal expressions
now then
today that day
yesterday the day before
the following day, the
tomorrow
day after
next week / month / the following week /
year month / year
last week / month / the week / month /
year year before
a week / month / year the week / month /
ago year before
Other changes
this that
these those
here there

The causative: 'to have something done'

To have something done

The verb “to have” means to be the owner of something, but it also has other meanings. In
this paragraph, we are going to see the verb “to have” known as a causative verb. We use
“to have something done” when the person who carries out the action is not the subject itself.

The structure to follow is:

Subject + have + object +

past participle + rest of the sentence

I had my hair cut last week.

If we want to mention the agent of the action, we introduce him with the word “by”.

I had my hair cut by the hairdresser.

We can use nearly all tenses.

Let’s see some examples:

I will have the house painted next week.

I have had the car repaired (by the mechanic).
I had the windows cleaned.

The passive voice

Passive voice

When a sentence contains a transitive verb, we can express the sentence in active or passive
form. The passive voice is very usual in English.

The passive voice is used in the following cases:

a) When the agent (of an action) is unknown or not specified.

English is spoken all over the world.

b) When we want to put emphasis on the action instead of the person who acts.

His brother was advised to study Law.

Regarding the form, we use the verb “to be + participle of the main verb”. The following table
shows the structure of a sentence in passive voice:

Passive subject + to be + participle

+ (agent) + rest of the sentence

His brother was killed in a car accident.

English is spoken (by people) all over the world.

Subsequently, we show a table of changes in the verb:

 ACTIVE / PASSIVE

present form

present He pays the bill.

simple am / is / are + participle
The bill is paid.

am / is / are + gerund
He is paying the bill.
present
continuous am / is / are + being +
participle
The bill is being paid.

past form

past He paid the bill.

simple was / were + participle
The bill was paid.

was / were + gerund

He was paying the bill.
past
continuous was / were + being +
participle
The bill was being paid.

have / has + gerund

present He has paid the bill.

perfect have / has + been + participle
The bill has been paid.

had + participle

past He had paid the bill.

perfect had + been + participle
The bill had been paid.

Have/has + been + verb + ing

I have been waiting for a long
Present time.
perfect Have/been + been + being +
continuous past participle
I have been being waited for a
long time.
Connectors: expressing purpose

Expressing purpose

In order to express purpose, we already know that we use the particle “to” followed by the
verb, or “for” followed by a noun.

I came here to have a coffee.

She works hard to earn more money.

He went out for a newspaper.

A lot of people work for money.

But there are other connectors that are used with the same meaning. These are: “in order to”
and “so that”.

“In order to” and “to” are followed by the verb, while “so that” is followed by a sentence often
containing a modal verb.

He bought a coffee maker to / in order to make coffee.

He bought a coffee maker so that he could make coffee.

We took a taxi so that we could get there early.

We took a taxi in order to / to get there early.

She speaks slowly so that he can understand.

She spoke slowly so that he could understand.

Some students have to work to / in order to pay for their studies.

Some students have to work so that they can pay for their studies.

In the following schema, we summarize the forms of expressing purpose that we have seen
until now, with structure and examples for each one:
Connector Form / Example

To + Verb
To
He went to buy some medicines.
In order to + Verb (is a little
more formal than “to”)
In order to
He went in order to buy some
medicines.
So that + Phrase
So that He went so that he could buy
some medicines.
For + Noun
For
He went for some medicines.