Grammar Flashcards
When do we use The third conditional?
used for a past situation that didn’t happen;
to talk about imagined past events: things that might have happened in the past, but didn’t happen.
parts of conditional sentence
if + past perfect, and would have + past participle.
The two parts can come in any order: put a comma. You don’t use a comma when the result part comes first
What are Double contractions?
is when we make three words into something shorter in spoken English. I would have becomes I’d’ve and could not have becomes couldn’t’ve.
When do we use Reported speech?
If someone says something that you want to tell another person, you can report it using reported speech. It is to move the tense back.
True or False
Notes on reported speech: A reported statement in the past simple often stays the same.
TRUE.
“I drove to work” -> She said she drove to work.
True or False
Notes on reported speech: You can go further back in time than the past perfect.
FALSE
The past perfect doesn’t change in reported speech because there isn’t a verb form further ‘back in time’.
True or False
Notes on reported speech: Some modal verbs change in reported speech: can, must.
TRUE
But some modal verbs don’t change: could, should, might.
True or False
We don’t change the verb in reported speech if the situation hasn’t changed, for example if it’s a fact or is generally true.
TRUE
“I love you” -> She told me she loves me.
True or False
In reported speech we can use the past tense to show you’re not certain the other person loves her/him – for example, the other person wasn’t telling the truth.
TRUE.
“I love you” -> She said she loved me.
Difference between the verbs say and tell when used in reported speech.
When we use say, we don’t normally include the object: “My friend said that he was making pizza”.
But if we use tell, we do need an object: “My friend told me that he was making pizza”.
When do we use If and whether?
can be used interchangeably, but one difference is that we use whether when we have two clear choices
When is Wether used?
you are only offering two choices - the two things you say. Tea or coffee.
When do we use “If”?
when you use if there is another possibility. As well as the two choices, there is a third: I don’t know if Finn wants either of those two drinks - maybe he wants something completely different, like hot chocolate or beer.
If and whether when used in indirect questions
If the direct question doesn’t have a question word, then we use if or whether in the indirect question. We can use these interchangeably, although if is a little more informal.
(Direct question) - Is the coffee for everyone?
(Indirect question) - Could you tell me if the coffee is for everyone?
Second conditionals
are about unreal or unlikely situations, like:
If I had enough money I would buy a plane
Ways to use “would”
1) Conditionals “I would memorise these sentences if I were you!”
2) Future in past “When you started learning English you knew you would be fluent one day”.
3) Reported speech “Finn said he would teach us how to use would”.
4) Repetition in the past: ‘would’ is being used to mark something that happened frequently in the past. “I would always make mistakes until I learned these examples”.
5) Polite requests “Would you try a little harder please?”
When are Indirect questions used?
We use these phrases to make questions more polite:
Do you know…
Could you tell me…
Would you mind…
Is there any chance…
Difference: let and allow
Let and allow are both followed by nouns or object pronouns. ‘Let’ takes an infinitive without to, and ‘allow’ takes an infinitive with to. Both can be made negative with an auxiliary verb, and allow is often used in the passive form.
Form (allow in passive)
Subject + to be + allowed (past participle)
When is Passive voice used?
When the person or the thing affected by the main verb becomes the focus: “The internet is used by millions of people every day”.
The passive is often used when the person or thing doing the verb is not important, unknown, or obvious. In this case, we may leave them out completely.
How do you form a Passive voice?
The passive voice is made with subject + to be + past participle + by + object.
Note that the active voice object becomes the passive voice subject. In the passive, the main verb is always the past participle.
What is the Passive voice used for?
We can use the passive voice to describe processes in which the action is more important than the person performing it.
Ex: The metal sheeting was heated and bent into shape before being cooled, polished, and finally painted.
The meaning of:
Unless
Unless is similar in meaning to if not and can be used instead of if not in certain types of conditional sentences. We normally use unless with present tenses when we are referring to the future.
True or False
Notes on “unless”: You can use ‘unless’ in questions
FALSE
What will you do if you don’t pass those exams? If I don’t pass those exams, I won’t be able to study in Australia.
True or False
Don’t use ‘unless’ with ‘would’ to talk about unreal future situations
TRUE
If he didn’t take everything so seriously, he would be much easier to work with.
If he weren’t so bad-tempered, I would help him to get the work done
True or False
Notes on “unless”: Use ‘unless’ with ‘would have’ to talk about unreal situations in the past
FALSE
If you hadn’t driven so recklessly, you wouldn’t have had this accident.
If you hadn’t had that last glass of wine, this would never have happened.
True or False
Notes on “unless”: Use ‘unless’, and not ‘if not’, if we are introducing an idea as an afterthought
TRUE
I won’t bother going to the meeting at the school tonight - unless you want to go, of course.
True or False
You can’t use a negative in the ‘unless’ clause.
TRUE
Answering negative questions
When a yes/no question is asked with a negative, it can be difficult to know what the correct way to respond is.
Think of a negative question as if it were a positive question and answer it like that!
Aren’t you going out tonight? is the same as: Are you going out tonight? For both questions the answer will be the same.
Yes, I am = you are going out tonight.
No, I’m not = you are not going out.
Mixed conditionals
The most common mixed conditional combination is when we have a third conditional in the if-clause (if + past perfect) followed by a second conditional (would + infinitive) in the main clause.
If he’d taken the medication, he would be feeling better.
Mixed third/second conditional form
With this mixed third/second conditional combination we are contrasting an imagined or real event in the past with the present result of that.
If they’d taken more care, she wouldn’t be pregnant now. (They didn’t take care. She is pregnant)
Use the present perfect to talk about:
life experiences: “I’ve been to Italy”.
recent past actions that are important now: “I’ve lost my keys”.
past situations that are still happening now: “We’ve been married for three years”.
talking about recent past events with ‘just’, ‘yet’ and ‘already’: “I’ve just finished a great book”.
True or False
Notes on “present perfect”: Don’t use the present perfect for activities, states and situations in the past which are completed or finished.
TRUE
I went to Italy last year.
My sister broke her leg last year.
Zero articles
Some nouns though do not normally need articles. There are different types of nouns that don’t require an article.
Use zero article (-) with
The names of most countries, cities and continents: Saudi Arabia, Argentina.
Geographical areas in adjective phrases: I live in (-) north-west Egypt, (-) eastern France
The names of single mountains and lakes: Mount Kilimanjaro, Lake Titicaca
Exact days, months and times: on (-) Friday, in (-) March, at (-) 7 o’clock
Some prepositional phrases of place: in (-) bed, at (-) sea
Types of nouns that don’t require an article
Plural and uncountable nouns for generalisations: Fruit is healthier than sweets
Proper nouns: Dan was standing in front of New Broadcasting House.
When talking about the normal role of an institution: What time does school finish on Fridays?
Times of day, year and named holidays and special days/festivals:
Do you put your cat out at night.
I always go home for Christmas.
The weather is usually best in August.
Zero article: school, university, college, hospital, prison, church.
There is a special rule for these places:
The children go to school by bus. I go to the school to help twice a week.
Ben’s studying maths at university. He works in the canteen at the university.
She was in hospital for three weeks. Is there a shop in the hospital?
If someone is at the place because they are a student / are sick / a prisoner, etc, we don’t use the. If they are there for another reason, or we are talking about the building, we use the.
True or False
Indefinite article: a university, a euro
Use a before consonant sounds: a chair, a horse, a laptop
This includes letters u or eu when they are pronounced y (/j/): a university, a euro
Indefinite articles
They are not used with plural nouns or uncountable nouns.
They are used when a singular countable noun is talked about for the first time.
They can be used when classifying, describing and generalizing:
It’s a dog.
The definite article
Use “the” when both the speaker and listener know what is being talked about or to identify a particular thing.
The definite article
You can also use the to mean the same as enough.
When we use the like this it is often in a negative structure and frequently with the verb to have. We can also use it with make and get.
If followed by a verb, it is the infinitive with to.
“We don’t have the time to go to the shops before the film starts”.
“Have we got the money for a foreign holiday this year?”
