Present Simple Passive

 

Present simple Passive is used to talk about some actions that are performed at the present moment or repeatedly, simple statements of fact or universal truth.  

 

The agents of such actions may be denoted with ‘by’:

• This work is performed by a new company.
• The beach is cleaned every morning.
• Oranges are imported from Paraguay.  

 

To make statements with the Present Simple Passive, use:

am/is/are + the Past Participle form of the verb.

 

Singular	Plural
I am visited You are visited He/she/it is visited	We are visited You are visited They are visited

 

• Glass is made from sand.
• Spanish is not spoken in China.
• Are US dollars accepted at Dubai airport?

 

 

The Passive: overview

 

Passive constructions are used when the speaker wants to focus not on the subject but on the action itself and the object receiving this action:

• Millions of people play mobile games every day (focus on “millions of people”).
• Mobile games are played by millions of people every day (focus on “mobile games are played”).
• Butter is made from milk.
• The telephone was invented by Alexander Bell.

 

Positive statements with passive constructions are built using various forms of ‘be’ (is, are, were, etc.) + the Past Participle form of the verb:

• The office is cleaned every day.
• I was born in 1980.
• These castles were built by our ancestors.

 

Note: For regular verbs, this is the “-ed” form of the verb. For the list of Past Participle forms of irregular verbs see Verbs: irregular in the Pre-Intermediate course.

 

To make negative statements with passive constructions, use:

subject + form of ‘be’ + not + Past Participle.

• I was not offered any job.
• That bird is not usually seen in our region.
• They weren’t invited to the party last Saturday.

 

To make questions with passive constructions, use:

(Question word) + form of ‘be’ + subject + Past Participle

• Where were you born?
• Was anybody injured in the accident?
• Were you paid when you finished your work?

 

 

Reported questions

 

Reported questions are used to describe questions that someone has asked.

Direct questions and reported questions use different word orders.

 

1 Closed questions

 

You go to a job interview and the interviewer asks you:

• Are you friendly and outgoing?
• Have you done this kind of work before?

 

Later, you want to tell a friend what the interviewer asked you. You have two options:

 

a) You can repeat her words:

• She asked me, ‘Are you friendly and outgoing?’
• She asked me, ‘Have you done this type of work before?’

 

These are direct questions.

 

b) You can also use reported questions.

 

If the answer to a question in direct speech is ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ ‘if’ or ‘whether’ is used to report the question. ‘Whether’ is more formal than ‘if.’

• She asked me if I was friendly and outgoing.
• She asked me if I had done this type of work before.

 

Reported questions with ‘if’ and ‘whether’ leave out the auxiliary verb ‘do.’

• Do you want me to stay for dinner? – Ian asked me if we wanted to stay for dinner.

 

Changing direct questions to reported questions

 

The change of pronoun and tense are similar to reported statements.

 

In addition:

a) the word order changes

b) we add ‘if’ or ‘whether’ with ‘yes’ / ‘no’ questions

 

• Interviewer: ‘Can you start tomorrow?’ – She asked me if I could start the next day.

 

2 ‘Do’, ‘does’ and ‘did’

 

These auxiliary verbs are not used in reported questions. The past form of the verb is usually used.

• Interviewer: ‘Do you like working as part of a team?’ – She asked me if I liked working as part of a team.

 

3 Choice questions

 

‘If’ or ‘whether’ can also be used to report questions that use “or” in direct speech.

• Interviewer: ‘Do you want to work in the morning or in the afternoon?’ – She asked me if I wanted to work in the morning or the afternoon.

 

4 Open questions

 

Direct open questions are reported by swapping the order of the subject and the verb.

• What are your hobbies?
• Where do you live?
• Why did you apply for this position?
• What hours can you work?

 

The subject comes before the verb in reported questions.

• She asked me what my hobbies were.
• She asked me where I lived.

 

The tense in reported questions usually moves one tense back from the tense in direct questions.

• She asked me why I had applied for the position.
• She asked me what hours I could work.

 

Reported speech: orders, requests, advice

 

‘Tell’ and ‘Ask’ with infinitives

 

We can use ‘tell’ or ‘ask’ with infinitives to report orders or requests:

 

Jim’s mum: Wash your hands! Dinner’s ready!

Jim’s mum: Can you wash your hands? Dinner’s ready!

• She told him to wash his hands.
• She asked him to wash his hands.

 

Jim’s mum: Don’t touch that pan – it’s hot!

• She told him not to touch the pan.
• She asked him not to touch the pan.

 

The structure here is:

 

tell + someone + (not) to do something

ask + someone + (not) to do something

 

 

‘Ask for something’

 

Jim: Mum, can I have some bread?

Jim’s sister: Could I have a glass of water?

• Jim asked her for some bread.
• Jim’s sister asked for a glass of water.

 

The structure here is:

 

ask (someone) for + object

 

 

Other reporting verbs

 

We can also use a lot of other verbs in reported speech. Some of them follow the same pattern:

• She ordered him to wash his hands.
• She advised him to wash his hands.
• She ordered him not to touch the pan.
• She advised him not to touch the pan.

 

Come on. Eat your vegetables. They’re good for you!

Remember to wash the dishes.

Don’t forget!

• She persuaded him to eat his vegetables.
• She reminded him to wash the dishes.
• She warned him not to forget.

 

Sometimes the pattern is different:

 

OK, Mum.  I’ll wash the dishes.

• He promised to wash the dishes.

NOT: He promised her to wash the dishes.

 

Why don’t you watch TV?

• He suggested (that) she should watch TV.
• He suggested (that) she watch TV.

 

You can also say:

• He suggested watching TV.

NOT: He suggested her to watch TV.

NOT: He suggested to watch TV.

Reported speech: tenses

 

Tenses

 

1. Present Simple and Present Continuous

In general, present tenses in direct speech change to past tenses in reported speech.

 

Julia:

‘I live in London.’

‘I’m taking a course in German this year.’

• Julia said she lived in London.
• Julia said she was taking a course in German that year.

 

2. ‘Can’ and ‘Will’

 

‘Can’ and ‘will’ change to ‘could’ and ‘would’.

 

‘I can speak English and French.’

‘My German course will finish next year.’

• Julia said she could speak English and French.
• Julia said her German course would finish the following year.

 

3. Past Simple, Past Continuous and Past Perfect

 

PAST SIMPLE → PAST PERFECT

PAST CONTINUOUS → PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

PAST PERFECT – DOES NOT CHANGE

 

‘I finished my Master’s degree last year.’

‘I was reading your company’s website when I decided to send in my CV.’

• Julia said she had finished her Master’s degree the previous year.
• Julia said she had been reading the company’s website when she decided to send in her CV.

 

4. Present Perfect Simple and Continuous

 

These tenses change like this:

 

‘I have spent time in Japan.’

‘I have been working as a secretary for two years.’

• Julia said she had spent time in Japan.
• Julia said she had been working as a secretary for two years.

 

5. Past Modal Verbs

 

In general, past modal verbs don’t change.

 

Interviewer:

‘We should be in touch next week.’

‘We might have some more questions.’

• The interviewer said they should be in touch the following week.
• The interviewer said they might have some more questions.

 

Note: It is not always necessary to change the tense. If the situation is still the same, you can leave verb in the original tense: – ‘I can speak English and French.’ Julia said she can / could speak English and French.   – ‘I finished my Master’s degree last year.’ Julia said she finished / had finished her Master’s degree the previous year.

 

‘Here and now’ words

 

When we change direct speech to reported speech, we may need to make other natural, logical changes:

 

1. Pronouns / Possessive Adjectives

 

‘I finished my Master’s degree last year.’

• Julia said she had finished her Master’s degree the previous year.

 

I → SHE

MY → HER

 

2. Time

 

LAST YEAR → THE LAST YEAR / THE PREVIOUS YEAR

 

‘I’m taking a course in German this year.’

• Julia said she was taking a course in German that year.

 

THIS YEAR → THAT YEAR

 

‘My German course will finish next year.’

• Julia said her German course would finish the following year.

 

NEXT YEAR → THE NEXT YEAR / THE FOLLOWING YEAR

 

3. Place

 

HERE → THERE

 

Julia:

‘I’ve been living here for six months.’

• Julia said that she had been living there / in that place for six months.

I’ll meet you here tomorrow for a coffee.’

• Julia said she would meet us at the cafe the following day for a coffee.

 

Other common changes include:

 

Direct Speech	→	Reported Speech
today	→	that day / on Tuesday
yesterday	→	the previous day / the day before / on Monday
tomorrow	→	the next day / the following day / on Wednesday
now	→	then / at that time

 

Reported speech: overview

 

Direct and Reported Speech

 

Sam: I’m having a shower.

 

If you want to tell someone else what Sam said, you have two options:

 

a) You can repeat his words:

• Sam said, ‘I’m having a shower.’

This is called direct speech. (We use quotation marks to indicate direct speech.)

 

b) You can use reported speech:

• Sam said (that) he was having a shower.

(You don’t need to include ‘that’.)

 

‘Say’ and ‘Tell’

 

We can also use ‘tell’ in direct and reported speech.  

 

Be careful with the grammar:

We usually use ‘tell’ with a personal object:

• Sam told me, ‘I’m having a shower.’
• Sam told me (that) he was having a shower.

NOT: Sam told, ‘I’m having a shower.’

NOT: Sam told (that) he was having a shower.

 

We don’t usually use ‘say’ with a personal object:

NOT: He said me, ‘I’m having a shower.’

NOT: He said me (that) he was having a shower.

 

 

Changing direct speech to reported speech

 

Compare the examples:

• Sam said, ‘I’m having a shower.’
• Sam said (that) he was having a shower.

Apart from the punctuation, the two main differences are:

1. the change of pronoun (‘I’ → ‘he’)
2. the change of tense (‘Present Continuous’ → ‘Past Continuous’)

 

These types of changes are typical in reported speech.

 

Present tenses usually change to past tenses:

 

Present Simple → Past Simple

Present Continuous → Past Continuous

 

We use ‘if‘ to introduce reported yes-no questions and questions with or.

 

 

Note: However, it is not always necessary to change the tense. If the situation is still the same, you can leave verb in the present tense:   Sam: I’m having a shower. If Sam is still in the shower when you tell someone else, you could say: Sam said (that) he is having a shower.

 

‘Tell’ or ‘Ask’ with Infinitives

 

We can also use ‘tell’ or ‘ask’ with infinitives for orders or requests:

 

Sam’s sister: Hurry up!

• She told him to hurry up.
• She asked him to hurry up.

The structures here are:

 

tell + someone + to do something

ask + someone + to do something

 

Sam’s sister: Don’t take too long!

• She told him not to take too long.
• She asked him not to take too long.

 

In the negative:   tell + someone + not + to do something ask + someone + not + to do something

 

The third conditional

 

We use the third conditional to talk about unreal situations in the past.

 

We use the third conditional to talk about:

1. things that did not happen,
2. situations like dreams or wishes with no possibility of coming true.

 

The third conditional contains:

1. An ‘if’ clause
2. A main/result clause

 

The third conditional uses the Past Perfect in the ‘if’ clause and the Past Participle in the result clause.

 

If/condition Clause	Result Clause
Past perfect	Would have + past participle

• If she had won the lottery, (‘if’/condition clause) + she would have bought a new house. (result clause)
• I would have told her about it (result clause) + if I had known. (‘if’/condition clause)

 

When we use the third conditional, we are talking about an impossible past condition. The condition was not and cannot ever be true because it is over and in the past. This also means the result is impossible because the condition is impossible.

 

Just like the second conditional, the ‘if’/condition clause has a comma at the end if it comes first. There is no comma if the ‘if’/condition clause comes second, after the result clause.

• I would have done better on the test if I had studied harder. (no comma needed because the “if” clause comes second)
• If you had tried harder, you would have won. (a comma comes after the “if” clause when it is first)

 

We can make positive, negative, and interrogative sentences using the third conditional. We can also use ‘should have‘, ‘could have‘, and ‘might have‘.

• If we had worked better as a team, we might have won the tournament.
• You could have bought that toy if you had saved your money.
• If it had rained yesterday, what would you have done?
• Your day would have been better if you had not stayed up all night playing games.

 

We can also use the contracted form in each clause.

• You could’ve bought that computer if you’d saved your money.
• If she’d tried harder, she’d have done better.
•  If you hadn’t slept in, you wouldn’t have missed your flight.

 

Let’s summarize:

ZERO CONDITIONAL: General truths
If + Simple Present	Simple Present
If this thing happens	that thing happens.
FIRST CONDITIONAL: A possible condition and its probable result
If + Simple Present	Simple Future
If this thing happens	that thing will happen.
SECOND CONDITIONAL: A hypothetical condition and its probable result
If + Simple Past	Present Conditional or Present Continuous Conditional
If this thing happened	that thing would happen. OR  that thing would be happening.
THIRD CONDITIONAL: An unreal past condition and its probable result in the past
If + Past Perfect	Perfect Conditional
If this thing had happened	that thing would have happened.OR that thing would have been happening.

 

The second conditional

 

We use the second conditional or type 2 conditional in two ways:

1. To talk about events in the future that are probably not going to happen.
2. To talk about impossible or unreal situations in the present (hypothetical).

 

Just like the first conditional, the second conditional is made up of two clauses:

1. An ‘if’ clause
2. A main clause

• If it snowed this July (‘if’ clause/condition) + I would be so surprised. (main/result clause)
• I would come in last (main/result clause) + if I ran a marathon. (‘if’ clause/condition)

The ‘if’ clause states the condition while the main clause states the result of the condition – if it were true.

 

The ‘if’ clause uses the Past Simple tense. The main clause (result clause) uses the Present conditional (would + verb) or Present Continuous conditional (would + be + -ing verb).

 

If Clause (Condition)	Main Clause (Result)
If + Past Simple	Would + verb

• If I were you, I would wear a helmet. (condition = if I were you – which is untrue and impossible)
• I would donate all my money to charity if I had millions of dollars. (condition = if I had millions of dollars – which is unlikely; result = I would donate all my money to charity.)
• I would be having a good time if I met my friends.

 

The order of the clauses is not important. We can put the ‘if’ clause first or second. However, since the ‘if’ clause is a subordinate clause, (can’t stand alone as a full sentence), we should put a comma after the ‘if’ clause when it comes before the main clause (result clause).

• If I could fly, I would fly around the world. (the ‘if’ clause is first, thus a comma follows)
• I would end your pain if I had the cure for cancer. (the ‘if’ clause is second, thus no comma is needed)

 

We can also use modals (could, might, should) in the main clause of second conditional sentences.

• If we made more money, we might take more vacations.
• He couldn’t go to the concert if you gave him a ticket.
• I could quit my job if I won the lottery.

 

We can make positive, negative, and interrogative sentences using the second conditional.

• Jamie wouldn’t go if you invited him.
• If we weren’t away, we would go to the party.
• What would you do if a meteor hit the earth right now?

 

Note: The word ‘if’ is a common feature of conditional statements. However, it is also possible to use words like ‘provided’ and ‘as long as’ in conditional structures. We use them with similar meaning when we want to emphasize the condition.  Provided you pay me back soon (condition), I will lend you the money. I think I’ll continue studying English, as long as I have the time to do so (condition).

 

Zero and first conditionals

 

Conditionals are used to describe the result of something that might happen in the present or in the future.

 

They usually involve the use of ‘if’ statements.

 

The Zero Conditional

 

Zero conditionals are used to talk about facts, such as scientific facts, or when the result of the condition is always true.

• If you heat ice, it melts.

[If + Present Simple, ….. + Present Simple]

 

The Present Simple is used in both clauses of the statement.

 

 

Conditional sentences can be used with other terms instead of ‘if’ such as ‘when’.

The use of ‘when’ also adds certainty to something happening.

• When the monsoon arrives, it floods the streets.

[When + Present Simple, ….+ Present Simple]

 

The First Conditional

 

Unlike the zero conditional that are generally or almost always true, the first conditional could be associated with possible situations or a possibility of something that is about to happen in the future.

 

This could be based on an event that is changing at present or could depend on other events that might happen in the future.

 

In this case, ‘will’ is used in the second clause of the statement.

 

First clause of the statement	Second clause of the statement
If + Present Simple tense	Will / Won’t

 

Example 1:

• If my mother comes home tonight, I will take her out to dinner

Or

• If my other comes home tonight, I’ll take her out to dinner.

[If + Present Simple, ….. + will + infinitive]

 

In the above two conditional types, it is not important whether ‘if’ is placed in the first clause of the statement or the second clause. They mean the same thing and can be swapped in usage.

 

• If I go the market, I buy my groceries.
• I buy my groceries if I go to the market.

OR

• When I see my personal tutor, I discuss my problems with him.
• I discuss my problems with my personal tutor when I see him.

 

Let’s summarize:

ZERO CONDITIONAL: General truths
If + Present Simple	Present Simple
If this thing happens	that thing happens.
FIRST CONDITIONAL: A possible condition and its probable result
If + Present Simple	Future Simple
If this thing happens	that thing will happen.

Conjunction: correlative

 

Correlative conjunctions work together in pairs. We use them to link one part of a sentence to another.

 

The main correlative conjunctions we can use are ‘either… or’, ‘neither… nor’, ‘both… and’ and ‘not only… but also.’

 

‘Either… or’ is used to link two choices. We put ‘either’ before the first choice. We put ‘or’ between the two choices:

• It’s either pink or red. (It could be pink, or it could be red.)
• We can go to either Italy or Spain next year. (We could go to Italy, or we could go to Spain).
• Either John or Henry has your coat. (John might have your coat, or Henry might have your coat).

 

‘Neither… nor’ is used to link two choices that are not available. Again, we put ‘neither’ before, and ‘nor’ between:

• It is neither blue nor green. (It is not blue, and it is not green).
• I am neither hungry nor thirsty. (I am not hungry, and I am not thirsty).
• Neither my sister nor my brother went on holiday. (My sister and my brother did not go on holiday).

Note: When we use ‘either… or’ or ‘neither… nor’, we have two choices. The verb must agree with the second subject. Neither Tom nor Ryan is coming to the party. (Ryan is singular.) NOT: Neither Tom nor Ryan are coming to the party.

 

‘Both… and’ is used to link two things that are equally included. Again, we put ‘both’ before, and ‘and’ between:

• Both Sally and Harry were eating. (Sally was eating. Harry was also eating.)
• I like both cake and chocolate. (I like cake. I also like chocolate.)
• My friend is both clever and funny. (My friend is clever. My friend is also funny.)

Note: When we use ‘both… and’, the verb is always plural because both things are equally included. Both Karen and Lucy are eating.

 

‘Not only… but also’ is similar to ‘both… and’. It is used to link two things that are equally included. Usually, ‘not only’ is before something we expect, and ‘but also’ is before something we do not expect:

• The dress is not only beautiful, but also very comfortable. (The dress is beautiful. It is also very comfortable.)
• I not only like cake, but I also like salad. (I like cake. I also like salad.)
• My friend is not only clever, but also sporty. (My friend is clever. My friend is also sporty.)

 

Note: Remember the ‘either… or’ and ‘neither… nor’ rule? When we use ‘not only… but also’, the verb must also agree with the second subject. Not only my friends, but also my Mother wants to visit. (Mother is singular.) NOT: Not only my friends, but also my Mother want to visit.