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

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