Conditional Sentences, Reported Speech, and Relative Clauses
Conditional Sentences
- Zero or General Conditional: Used for general facts that are always true.
“Food goes off if you don’t keep it in the fridge.”
- First or Probable Conditional: Used for situations that are certain or probable to happen.
“If you play the guitar often, you will improve.”
“You will improve if you play the guitar often.”
I’ll go to Donosti if you give me a lift.
- As long as
- Provided that
- Providing
- On condition that
“Suppose nobody comes to our party, what will we do?” (If)
- Second or Improbable/Hypothetical Conditional: Used for improbable or hypothetical situations.
“If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world.”
- Improbable (Difficult to happen but may happen)
“I have no balcony in my house. If I had a balcony, I would grow plants.” Hypothetical
- Third or Impossible Conditional: Used for impossible past situations.
“If Ibai had played the match, we would have won it.”
Might
- Mixed Conditional: Used for a mix of past and present conditions.
“If I had studied harder (last year), I would be at university (now).”
“If you lived in Lazkao (now), we could have studied together all night (past).”
- Note:
*Unless = If not
If you don’t study, you won’t pass.
Unless you study, you won’t pass.
*In case = Is not a conditional
When going abroad, you should always take a photocopy of your identity card in case you lose it.
I Wish / If Only
Used to express wishes or regrets.
“I wish / If only it were Friday.”
“I wish / If only I had studied engineering.”
Reported Speech
Positive and Negative Statements
“You will have an exam tomorrow,” she said.
*She said/told us that we would have an exam the following day.
Changes:
- Pronoun Changes:
This —– That
These —– Those
- Verb Changes:
Direct Speech → Reported Speech
Present Simple (live) → Past Simple (lived)
Present Continuous (is living) → Past Continuous (was living)
Future (will live) → Conditional (would live)
Going to (is going to live) → Past going to (was going to live)
Present Perfect (has lived) → Past Perfect (had lived)
Past Simple (lived) → Past Perfect (had lived)
Would (would live) → Would have (would have lived)
Past Continuous (was living) → Past Perfect Continuous (had been living)
Can (can live) → Could (could live)
May (may live) → Might (might live)
- Time Expression Changes:
Today → That day
Tonight → That night
Tomorrow → The next day, the following day, the day after…
Yesterday → The last day, the previous day, the day before…
Questions
- WH- Questions:
“Where do you come from?” she asked.
*She asked me where I came from.
Asked + Pronoun + WH- word + Subject + Verb
Pronouns, verbs, and time expressions change in the same way as in statements.
Commands, Requests
“Be quiet,” she said.
*She asked/ordered us to be quiet.
“Don’t touch that button,” she said.
*She asked us not to touch that button.
Asked/Ordered + Pronoun + (Not) + Infinitive
Relative Clauses
- Defining Relative Clauses:
- The relative clause is necessary to know which person, thing, place, etc. we are talking about.
“You saw a boy yesterday. He is my boyfriend.”
The boy (who you saw yesterday) is my boyfriend. No commas (the information is necessary).
- In defining relative clauses, we can omit who, which, and that if they are not the subject of the relative clause.
“The boy who (omit) you saw yesterday is my boyfriend.”
“The boy who (subject) came yesterday is my boyfriend.”
- Non-Defining Relative Clauses:
- In non-defining relative clauses, the relative clause is not necessary, so we use commas.
- We cannot omit the relative pronoun in non-defining relative clauses.
- We cannot use “that” in non-defining relative clauses.
“The sun, which is more than a billion kilometers far from the Earth, is a star.”