Conditional Sentence

FUTURE CONDITIONAL (TYPE I)

This type of conditional sentences tells hopes and plans that are still possible to happen in the future. For example:

-If I pass the final exam, I will continue studying at President University.
If clause main clause

-I will not go out if it rains this evening.
Main clause if clause

-If + subject + present tense, Subject + will/will not + present tense

If clause main clause

PRESENT CONDITIONAL (TYPE 2)

It used to imagine a future happening but unreal to happen. It uses past tense (did, was, found, etc) after the ‘if clause’ but the meaning is present. In the ‘main clause’, it uses would/would not (wouldn’t).

For example

ü If we didn’t go to the party, he would be very angry.

If cause main clause

ü If you stopped smoking, you would feel healthier.

If clause main clause

If + subject + past tense, Subject + would/wouldn’t + present tense

If clause main clause

The speaker imagines that he/she do something, but actually not.

PAST CONDITIONAL (TYPE 3)

We use past tense and past perfect to describe something in the past which was contrary to the fact or which did not happen and is unreal.

had + past participle, would have + past participle

if clause main clause

For example:

If the scientists had not worked hard, they would not have invented fuel.

If clause main clause

The real situation was that the scientists worked hard so they invented the fuel.

Simple Past Tense

Simple Past tense is used to express that something happened/took place and was finished at some time in the past. It also indicates that an activity began and ended at particular time in the past. We use the past simple to talk about actions or situations in the past.

For example:

• Mr. Edward died ten years ago.
• When I lived in Manchester, I worked in a bank.

Simple Past usually ends in –ed (regular), for example:

• After we arrived at the gardens we walked down to the Education Centre.
• She passed the final examination because she studied hard.
• We invited them to our party last week.

But many simple past are irregular means that the simple past does not end in –ed. For example:

• We all left the party at 11 o’clock. (leave)
• Yesterday we went to the Botanical Garden. (go)
• A lady took us in to a special room. (take)

The past of the verb be (am/is/are) is was/were, as the following examples:

• It was time for us to go.
• I was angry because Tom and Jerry were late.

In past simple question and negatives, we use did/did not (didn’t) followed by the infinitive (open/walk/go, etc) but we do not use did with the verb be

Positive	Negative	Question
We went to the Botanic Garden.	We didn’t go to the Botanic Garden.	Did we go to the Botanic garden?
They were so angry.	They were not so angry.	Were they so angry?

 

 

 

THE EXERCISES

 

EXERCISE 1

Read carefully the passage below, then, underline the verbs in the simple past tense form.

Postcards always spoil my holidays. Last summer, I went to Italy. I visited museums and sat in public gardens. A friendly waiter taught me a few words of Italian. Then he lent me a book. I read a few lines, but I did not understand a word. Everyday I thought about postcards. My holidays passed quickly, but I did not send any cards to my friends. On the last day I made a big decision. I got up early and bought thirty-seven cards. I spent the whole day in my room, but I did not write a single cards.

(Taken from Practice and Progress, Alexander, L.G, 2000)

 

 

EXERCISE 2

From the simple past form above, change the sentences into the negative forms.

 

EXERCISE 3

Give the correct form of the verbs in brackets in the passage below. Each verb must tell us what happened.

My friend, Roy, (die) last year. He (leave) me his record player and his collection of gramophone records. Roy (spend) a lot of money on records. He (buy) one or two new records every week. He never (go) to the cinema or to the theatre. He (stay) at home every evening and (listen) to music. He often (lend) records to his friends. Sometimes they (keep) them. He (lose) many records in this way.

 

EXERCISE 4

Now create sentences by using the information provided below. Number one has been done for you. You may add some words to complete the sentence as it becomes correct sentence.

cook

my mother

yesterday

The sentence: My mother cooked fried rice yesterday

	what	who	when
1.	order	I and my boyfriend	last night
2.	send	My grandpa	a year ago
3.	study	Jenny	last year
4.	get accident	My uncle	yesterday
5.	leave	My teacher	Last week

The sentences:

1)      …………………………………………………………………..

2)      …………………………………………………………………..

3)      ………………………………………………………………….

4)      ………………………………………………………………….

5)      ………………………………………………………………….

Adjective Clause

Adjective clause or relative clause tells us which (what kind of) person or thing the speaker means. For example:

ü      The man who lives next door … (tells us which man)

ü      People who live in London … (tells us what kind of people)

• ‘Who’ is used when we are talking about people. For example:

The man – he lives next door – is very friendly

The man who lives next door is very friendly.

It is also possible to use ‘that’ instead of ‘who’.

The man that lives next door is very friendly.

• ‘Which’ is used to talk about things. We can also use ‘that’.

ü      A dictionary is a book which/that gives you the meanings of words.

ü      Where are the eggs which/that are in the fridge?

• ‘Whose’ is used instead of his/her/their (mostly for people):

We saw some people – their car had broken down.

We saw some people whose car had broken down.

• ‘Whom’ is possible instead of who (for people) when it is the object of the verb in the relative clause. For example:

ü      The man was away on holiday.

ü      I wanted to see him.

ü      The man whom I wanted to see was away on holiday.

ü      In spoken English, we normally prefer who or that.

• ‘Where’ is to talk about places.

ü      The hotel – we stayed there – wasn’t very clean

ü      The hotel where we stayed wasn’t very clean.

 

Direct and Indirect Speech

There are two ways of reporting what somebody says;

• direct speech
• indirect (or reported) speech

 

In direct speech we use the speaker’s own words. When using direct speech in your writing you need to use the correct punctuation.

• The exact words spoken must be enclosed in speech marks.
• The first word of the speech must begin with a capital letter.
• The words in the speech marks must be separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma.
• You must use a new line when a new speaker begins to speak.

For example:

• I said, “Come on Chris, have another slide it’s great fun. “
• I said, “Come on Chris haven’t you had any exercise?”
• Tom said, “I’m feeling bad.”
• Helen said, “I am going home.”

 

In indirect speech (sometimes called reported speech) we do not use the exact words of the speaker. We sometimes need to change pronouns and verb tenses. We don’t use speech marks. When we use reported speech, we are usually talking about the past. So verb usually change to the past, for example:

am/is  are have/has will can do/want/know, etc

was  were had would could did/wanted/knew, etc

 

Here are the examples of indirect/reported speech:

• Tom said (that) he was feeling bad.
• Helen said (that) she was going home.
• I said to Chris to have another slide.
• I told Jim not to shout.

Passive Voice

Passive is used when it is not so important who or what did the action.

For example:

• Somebody built this house in 1995. (active)
• The house was built in 1995. (passive)

The form of passive sentence is be followed by past participle

be (is/am/are/was/were/has been, etc) + past participle

If you want to say who did or what caused the action, use by:

• This dress was made by my mother

Here is the table of passive form of some active tenses

TENSES	ACTIVE	PASSIVE
Simple present	eats	is eaten
Present continuous	is eating	is being eaten
Present perfect	has eaten	has been eaten
Simple past	ate	was eaten
Past continuous	was eating	was being eaten
Past perfect	had eaten	had been eaten
Future	will eat	will be eaten
Conditional	would eat	would be eaten
Perfect conditional	would have eaten	would have been eaten
Present infinitive	to eat	to be eaten
Perfect infinitive	to have eaten	to have been eaten
Present participle (gerund)	eating	being eaten
Perfect participle	having eaten	having been eaten

Some examples of passive sentences:

• The students are asked to do the assignment.
• My broken car is being repaired now.
• The room looks nice. It has been cleaned.
• The hotel will be opened next year.
• The house was cleaned last night.
• The house was being cleaned when I arrived.
• The room looked much better. It had been cleaned.
• I don’t like being told what to do.
• The problem can be solved.
• The window should have been cleaned yesterday.

Modals

Kinds of modals and their use in English sentences:

No.	MODAL	USES	PRESENT/FUTURE	PAST
1.	CAN	AbilityPermission	I can do the test.All students can enter the room
2.	COULD	Past abilityPolite questions		We could be in love.Could I have your name?
3.	MAY	PermissionPossibility	May I enter the room?They may be late.	They may have been here yesterday.
4.	MIGHT	possibility		She might come tonight
5.	SHOULD/OUGHT TO	Advisabilityexpectation		You should study hard.My mother should pick me up soon.
6.	HAD BETTER	Strong advisability		You had better be on time or we will go without you.
7.	MUST	Necessityconclusion	I must go now.She is not here, she must be absent today.
8.	HAVE TO	necessity		I have to see him.
9.	HAVE GOT TO	necessity	I have got to go
10	WILL	Simple futurePolite request	I will study English tonight.Will you close your book?
11	WOULD	Polite requestPreferenceconditional		Would you mind opening the door?I would rather to go by car.If I found money, I would keep it.
12	SHALL	Simple future(I and we)Polite questions (suggestion)	I shall arrive there tomorrow.Shall I make you a cup of tea?