Mastering English Tenses, Conditionals, Passive Voice, and Modals
1. Verb Tense Practice
Put the verbs between brackets in the correct tense:
I arrived in England in the middle of July. I had been told that England, all year round, was covered with fog, so I can really say that I was quite surprised to find that it was merely raining. I asked another passenger, an Englishman, about the fog, and he said that, as far as he knew, there hadn’t been any since the previous February. After a while, he said that if I wanted fog, I had come at quite the wrong time. He added that I could buy tinned fog at Harrod’s. He admitted that, anyway, he himself hadn’t bought fog there yet, but he assured me that they sold good quality, and that it wasn’t expensive.
2. Conditional Sentences
Restate the following sentences, turning them into Conditional Sentences:
- My cousin is not very clever, so he will never be a doctor. If my cousin were clever, he would be a doctor.
- Study hard: you will get a good job and you will have a nice car. If you study hard, you will get a good job and have a nice car.
- We could not find Tom. That’s why he didn’t come with us. If we had found Tom, he would have come with us.
- He spends all his money at the bingo. As a result, he is not very rich. If he hadn’t spent all his money at the bingo, he would be very rich.
- There aren’t any eggs, so I can’t make an omelet. If I had had eggs, I would have made an omelet.
3. Conditional Tense Practice
Put the verbs in these Conditional sentences in the correct tense:
- I can never sleep at night. The house would be all right if the neighbors above us weren’t so noisy.
- This money isn’t enough. If I had known we were going to buy so many things, I would have brought some more.
- Too much sun is not good for your skin. People will get sunburnt unless they use sun-cream.
- Look at Tom trying to start his old car. If I were Tom, I would buy either a new battery or a new car.
- Finally, they didn’t get married. They wouldn’t have felt very happy in their life now if they had gotten married.
4. Passive Voice Transformation
Turn the following sentences into the Passive voice:
- They bought their son an ice-cream after the match. An ice-cream was bought for their son after the match.
- We have repaired this machine. This machine has been repaired.
- Our team lost the first match. The first match was lost by our team.
- Who called the police? By whom was the police called?
- They thought that we knew the questions of the exam. It was thought that we knew the questions of the exam.
5. Modal Auxiliary Usage
Replace the underlined expression by another containing a Modal auxiliary:
- Tom can swim very well.
- My brother has to get up at seven am, but he hates it.
- I advise you to work hard if you don’t want to disappoint your parents. I advise you should work hard if you don’t want to disappoint your parents.
- It is not necessary for you to clean your room every day, but it would be a good idea. You needn’t clean your room every day, but it would be a good idea.
- I think I will stay here tonight. I think I should stay here tonight.
6. Relative Clauses
Join each pair of sentences by means of a RELATIVE, making the second the relative clause:
- We went to visit our grandparents. We lived with our grandparents when we were younger. We went to visit our grandparents, with whom we lived when we were younger.
- Larry didn’t tell us that Peter was going out with Mary. We don’t know Peter. Larry didn’t tell us that Peter, whom we don’t know, was going out with Mary.
- Most of the houses were very old. I visited the houses in this street. Most of the houses that I visited in this street were very old.
- The players have never won a match. We can see the players in that photo. The players whom we can see in that photo have never won a match.
- We went to the cinema to see a film. I had met her for the first time. We went to the cinema to see a film where I had met her for the first time.