Mastering English Tenses, Conditionals, and More
Future Simple and Related Tenses:
- Present Simple (Timetable): Structure: infinitive/-s. Example: The school starts next Monday at 9 a.m.
- Will (Decisions at the moment): Structure: will + infinitive. Example: I’ll go and get us an ice cream.
- Going to (Plan, evidence): Structure: going to + infinitive. Example: I’m going to go to Madrid next week.
- Present Continuous (Sure future): Structure: is/am/are + -ing. Example: I’m having an omelette this evening because I bought the eggs.
Future Perfect:
- Simple: Structure: will have + -ed/participle. Connectors: by/until/for/since. (Finished action in the future). Example: Next July, Laura will have studied in PV for 2 years.
- Continuous: Structure: will have been + -ing. Connector: by. (Action in progress).
Conditionals:
- Zero Conditional (Evidence, logical ideas): If + present simple, present simple. Example: If it rains, I get wet.
- First Conditional (Real, probable, possible): If + present simple, will. Example: If I don’t study, I will fail.
- Second Conditional (Possible but improbable): If + past simple, would/could/may/might. Example: If I were you, I would go to the party.
- Third Conditional (To imagine how things might have been different in the past): If + past perfect, would/wouldn’t have + past participle. Example: If you had gone to the party, you would have met a lot of people.
Wishes and Regrets:
We can express wishes and regrets about the past using wish or wished + past perfect. The wish we express is the opposite of what really happened.
- Example: I wish I’d been born a hundred years ago. (You weren’t born a hundred years ago).
- Paula wishes she hadn’t split up with her boyfriend. (But she did split up with him).
We can also express regrets about the past with if only + past perfect.
- Example: If only I had called him. (But I didn’t call him).
- If only James had remembered my birthday! (But he didn’t remember it).
Past Modals:
Structure: Subject + Modal + have + Past Participle + Object.
We can use past modals to talk about:
- Possibility: It might/may have been your parents who sent the flowers.
- Logical explanation/certainty: It can’t have been Maria who phoned before. It must have been Sarah.
- Obligation: I ought to/should have finished this composition last night.
- Lack of necessity: We needn’t have got up so early.
- A past condition: I would have finished the composition if I had time.
Relative Clauses:
They are subordinated clauses introduced by a pronoun or a relative adverb. There are two types: defining and non-defining.
- Defining relative clauses: They give essential information about their precedent. Without them, the phrase lacks sense. They are not enclosed in commas. They can be formed with the relative pronouns: that, who, which, whose, where, and when. The relative pronouns can be omitted when they are not the subject of the clause. Example: The boy who I met yesterday is beautiful. → The boy I met yesterday is beautiful.
- Non-defining relative clauses: They give extra information about their precedent. Without them, the phrase still makes sense. They are enclosed in commas. They can be formed with the relative pronouns: who, which, whose, when, and where. The relative pronouns *cannot* be omitted when they are not the subject of the clause. Example: The boy, whose father is Marco, is beautiful.
Used to, Get Used to, Be Used To:
- Used to + infinitive (past habits): Example: When I was a child, I used to play with my dolls. I used to live in Brazil when I was 20.
- Get used to + verb-ing (becoming accustomed to): Example: It was difficult for me to get used to eating fish.
- Be used to + verb-ing (being accustomed to): Example: After a year, I’m used to eating fish.
Reported Speech:
- Past Simple → Past Perfect
- Present Perfect → Past Perfect
- Past Perfect → Past Perfect
- Will → Would
Modals:
- can → could
- may → might
- must → had to
- shall → should
Time expressions:
- now → then
- today → that day
- tomorrow → the next day
- yesterday → the previous day
- here → there
If the reporting verb is “say” in the present tense, there is no change because it is already in the present.
Yes/No Questions: He asked me if…
Orders and Requests:
- Orders: tell + infinitive
- Requests: ask + infinitive
