Grammar

 Indirect Speech: Say - Tell

Sub-topics: Direct Speech

As we know "Indirect Speech" is used when you say something that other person said without using the exact words, for this cas we use the verbs "Tell" when we mention the listener in a sentence, and we use "Say" when we don't.

Structure: Subject + SAY / SAID + Infinitive verb + Complement

Structure: Subject + TELL / TOLD + Listeners + Infinitive verb + Complement 

Example: 

• The teacher SAID to open our books. (Listeners not mentioned)

• The teacher TOLD the students to open our books. (Listeners mentioned)

We use SAY and TELL are in the past sentence, the verbs in the indirect statement often changes.

Present → Past

Structure: Subject + Said + (That) + Object + Verb in past + Complement

Structure: Subject + Told + Listener(s) + (That) + Object + Verb in past + Complement

• They SAID, "The weather IS awful." → They SAID (that) the weather WAS awful.

Past → Past Perfect

Structure: Subject + Said + (That) + Object + Had + Past participle verb + Complement

Structure: Subject + Told + Listener(s) + (That) + Object + Had + Past participle verb + Complement

• Dan SAID, "We all HAD the flu." → Dan SAID (that) they all HAD had the flu.  

Will → Would 

Structure: Subject + Said + (That) + Object + Would + Base form verb + Complement

Structure: Subject + Told + Listener(s) + (That) + Object + Would + Base form verb + Complement

• They SAID, "There WIL be snow tonight." → They SAID (that) there WOULD be snow tonight.

Can → Could

Structure: Subject + Said + (That) + Object + Could + Base form verb + Complement

Structure: Subject + Told + Listener(s) + (That) + Object +  Could + Base form verb + Complement

• My husband SAID, "You CAN come with me." → My husband SAID (that) I COULD come with him.

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 Indirect Speech: Imperative 

Sub-topics: Direct Speech

We use indirect speech to report what someone said without quoting the exact words. It applies mostly to orders. Don't use quotation marks when you write indirect speech.

Structure: 

Affirmative: Order + Infinive verb + Complement.

Negative: Order + Not + Infinitive verb + Complement.

An imperative in direct speech becomes an infinitive in indirect speech.

Example:

• Direct Speech: Peter said, "Be careful if you go out during the storm" / My mom said, "Use an umbrella"

• Indirect Speech: Peter said to be careful to go out during the storm. / My mom said to use an umbrella.

They said, "Read the weather report" / They said to read the weather report.

She says, "Don't go out without a full tank of gas" / She says not to go out without a full tank of gas.

Change the pronouns in indirect speech as necessary for logic:

Martin said, "Tell me as soon as you know" / Martin told me to tell him as soon as I know.

She told me, "Please call me when you get home" / She told me to call her when I get home.

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Practice exercise #7

Topics: Ask about an article.

Sub-topics: Noun clauses, Embedded questions.

For this section I will make a review of the topics learned through on a exercise using all the structures, vocabulary and more to show my improvement at these topics.

 Noun clauses: Embedded questions

Sub-topics: Ask about an article

A question can be include in a noun clause. At the beginning of a noun clause, some expresions are used as an introducction to the embedded question:

- Tell me...

- I'd like to know...

- Could you tell me...?

- I can't remember...

- I don't understand...

- I wonder...

- I'm not sure...

- I don't know...

- Do you know...?

There are two ways of questions that can be embedded:

1. Yes/No questions ➡ Embedded Yes/No questions

Structure: Expression + IF + Subject + (Auxiliary) + Verb + complement

Examples:

• Is that magazine interesting ➡ Tell me IF that magazine is interesting.
• Did he like the article? ➡ I'd like to know IF he liked the article.
• Have you finished that newspaper? ➡ Could you tell me IF you've finished that newspaper?

     2. Information questions ➡ Embedded information questions

Structure: Expression + Wh question + Subject + (Auxiliary) + Verb + Complement

Examples: 

• What's the article about? ➡  I can't remember WHAT the article's about.
• Why have you decided to read it? ➡ I don't understand WHY you've decided to read it.
• Who's the writer? ➡ I wonder WHO the writer is.
• Whose magazine is it? ➡ I'm not sure WHOSE magazine it is.
• When was it written? ➡ I don't know WHEN it was written.
• Where is the writer from? ➡ Do you know WHERE the writer is from?

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Practice Exercise #6

Topics: Reading for pleasure, Noun clauses.

Sub-topics: Recommend a book, Ways to describe a book.

For this section I will make a review of the topics learned through on a exercise using all the structures, vocabulary and more to show my improvement at these topics.

 Noun Clauses

We use "NOUN CLAUSES" for giving information about something. A noun clause is introduced by the word "THAT", a noun cluse it's a sentence inside another sentence.

Structure:

Subject + Verb + Complement + THAT + Subject + Verb + Complement.

Noun clauses often follow these verbs and adjecives:

Agree           Hear                                        Disappointed
Think           See                                           Happy
Believe       Understand                            Sad
Feel             Hope                                        Sorry
Suppose     Forget                                     Sure
Doubt          Remember                            Surprised
Guess          Know

Examples:

1. I didn't know THAT he wrote this book.
2. I think THAT Junot Diaz's novels are fantastic.
3. Did you forget THAT her biography was 500 pages long? 

When we speak or when the noun clause functions as a direct object, the word "THAT" may be omitted.

Examples:

1. I didn't know he wrote this book.
2. I think Junot Diaz's novels are fantastic.
3. Did you forget her biography was 500 pages long?

When we use short answers, we can use "SO" to replace a noun clause after the verbs THINK, BELIEVE, GUESS and HOPE.
Examples:

A: Does Stephen King have a new book out?
B: I THINK SO/ I BELIEVE SO/ I GUESS SO/ I HOPE SO.

(SO = I THINK Stephen King have a new book out)

Note: "SO" is only used for affirmative in all the verbs, but in negative we use: 

I DON'T THINK SO/ I DON'T BELIEVE SO/ I GUESS NOT/ I HOPE NOT. 

(I don't guess so/ I don't hope so) 

Finally, a noun clause can also be an adjective complement.

Examples:

1. It's interesting (THAT) she wrote a new book.
2. I'm surprised (THAT) he hasn't written a new novel yet.

At speaking, the stress in the sentence is pronunced in the verb.

There's a lot of words that can be used as a NOUN CLAUSE:

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 The Passive Causative

Sub-topic: The Causative, The Passive voice

This grammar focuses on the object rather than the subject of the sentences. It uses some of the PASSIVE VOICE structure. 

(Active voice: Subject + Verb + Object = John plays the piano - Passive voice:  Object + To be + Verb in past participle = The piano is played (by John))

Estructure: Subject + GET (GOT, GOTTEN) / HAVE (HAD) + Object + Verb in past participle + (Complement)

Ex: 

• The U GOT the plattform bought (by the students) 
• The U HAD the plattform bought (by the students)
• We HAD our picture taken afer the meeting.
• They plan to HAVE the offices paid for dinner.
• CAN she HAVE her x-rays given this morning?

CAUSATIVE VS PASSIVE CAUSATIVE

We have to learn in which situations we need to use CAUSATIVE or PASSIVE CAUSATIVE and know their differences clearly.

1. I'm having some documents copied right now.
2. She'll get her friend to repair her bicycle right now.
3. Can I have this annoucement printed this morning?
4. He needs to have his pants lenghtened today.
5. She wants to get the tailor to shorten her red dress right away.
6. Can we have a professional paint this room?
7. Can I get my sweater dry-cleaned in 24-hours?
8. They should get someone to frame your picture.

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The Causative 2

 The Causative with MAKE - LET

Sub-topic: The Causative with GET - HAVE.

According with "The Causative 1" we also have other verbs that can be used in the caustive structure and give to the sentence a different meaning.

The first one is the verb "MAKE", the causative make is used to express the idea that one person forces another to do something. The causative with "MAKE" is not an incitation, it's an obligation.

Structure:

Subject + MAKE (Made) + Object + Base form of the verb + Complement

Ex: 

• They MAKE their kids finish their homework before dinner.

• She MADE him sign the form.

• The U MADE us buy the plattform.

• The policeman HAS MADE them show their IDs.

The second verb is "LET", is used to indicate that a permission is being given to do something. The causative with "LET" it's a synoym to PERMIT.

Structure: 

Subject + LET + Object + Base form of the verb + Complement

Ex:

• My boss LET me take the day off.

• I don't LET my children stay out after 9:00 pm.

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The Causative 1

 The Causative with GET - HAVE

Sub-Topic: Offer a solution

This structure is for cases when you "cause" someone to do something you can't,  is similar to the PASSIVE VOICE but this is very different. We DON'T DO the action, but we CAUSE or PERSUADE another person DO IT for us or someone else.

Structure:

We use the verb "GET" and it can be used in all the tenses and structures. And also we use the infinitive form of the verb.

Subject + Get (Gets, got, gotten) + Object + Infinitive form of the verb + Complement.

For this case the object is the person who DOES the action for the subject.

Example:

• The U GOT the students TO BUY the plattform.
• My sister GETS her children TO WASH the dishes.
• I'll GET the waiter TO CORRECT the check.
• DID she GET her friends TO GIVE money to the school?

Also, we can use "HAVE" and the base form of the verb and still meaning the same.

Subject + Have (Has, had) + Object + Base form of the verb + Complement.

Example:

• The U HAD the students BUY the plattform.
• My sister HAS her children WASH the dishes.
• I'll HAVE the waiter CORRECT the check.
• DID she HAVE her friends GIVE money to the school?

There is more causative verbs that we can use:

Tenses of the causative:

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Modal Verbs 2: Will Be Able To - Might - May

Will Be Able To - Might - May

Sub-Topics:  Must,  Make a medical or dental appointment.

As you can remeber in the modal verb 'MUST', we have other useful modal verbs:

We use 'WILL BE ABLE TO' (estar en la capacidad de... / Ser capaz de...) to be secure of a future ability, WILL BE ABLE TO could be replaced by others modal verbs like 'CAN' or 'COULD', even we wan skip 'BE ABLE TO'  .

Subject + WILL BE ABLE TO + Verb in base form + Complement.

• The nurse WILL BE ABLE TO come in five minutes. =The nurse WILL come in five minutes = The nurse CAN come in five minutes.

And we have the negative form:

Subject + WILL NOT BE ABLE TO + Verb in base form + Complement.

• The secretary WON'T (WILLNOT) BE ABLE TO assist you at this time. = The secretary WON'T assist you at this time = The secretary can't assist you at this time.

To express a posibility we use 'MAY' or 'MIGHT', both mean the same:

Subject + MIGHT / MAY + Verb in base form + Complement

• Carla MIGHT (MAY) pass her exam.

Negative: 

Subject + MAY (MIGHT) NOT + Verb in base form + Complement.

• Carla MAY NOT pass her exam.

Modal verbs can be used with BE ABLE TO, MIGHT / MAY for posibilities and MUST for drawing conclusions, as we already have learned:

Examples:

• The nurse MUST BE ABLE TO come in five minutes, she say so.
• The secretary MAY BE ABLE TO assist you at this time.
• Carla MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO pass her exam.
• I MUST NOT BE ABLE TO reject a good food.

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Modal Verbs 1: MUST

 Drawing conclusions with: MUST

(NOTE: Remember, a modal verb is a word that modifies other verbs)

Use the modal MUST  to draw a conclusion and indicate that you think something is probably true.

Must = Deber - Deberías.

Structure (Affirmative): 

Subject + MUST + Verb ib base form + Complement

Example: A: I haven't done my homework yet. And it's for tomorrow!

               B: You must start it right now then! I will help you.

Structure (Negative):  

Subject + MUST + NOT + Verb ib base form + Complement

Example: A: Hey, how about to play videogames right now?

               B: We must not play at this hour! It's almost midnight and tomorrow we have classes. Let's go to bed instead.

               B: Boring.

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Intensifiers

 Sub-topics: Describe a busy schedule.

Intensifiers are adverbs or adverbial phrases that make adjectives have stronger meaning of expressions and show emphasis.

Intensifiers can be more or less based on a scale:

Low                                                                                 High

  Pretty    ➻❥    So   ➻❥   Really    ➻❥   Incredibly   ➻❥   Unbelievably

Examples: 

• Usagi is PRETTY hungry.

• Nanami is SO tired.

• Sailor moon and rei are REALLY angry.

• Chun Li is INCREDIBLY happy.

• Luci is UNBELIEVABLY busy.

We can use intensifiers to DESCRIBE A BUSY SCHEDULE in a better way.

There are more intensifiers for a lot of different situations, so we have a lot of combinations with sentences and expressions using intensifiers!

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Past Perfect

Past Perfect Grammar

Sub-topics: Past participle (verbs), Time expressions

We use the past perfect to describe an acction that ocurred before a specific time in the past. Past perfect is used to talk about an action which happened BEFORE another action in the PAST.

Example: Lenny had done his homework.

or

Lenny'd done his homework.

Contractions:

I had = I'd

You had = You'd

She had = She'd

He had = He'd

It had = It'd

They had = They'd

We had = We'd

We can use a timeline to describe the actions:

We need to identify the order of the sentences between simple past and past pasticiple. It's very easy, the PAST PARTICIPLE always happened first and SIMPLE PAST is the second one.

The time expressions that are usually used to identfy both sentences are:

Before = 2. Simple Past - 1. Past Participle
After = 1. Past Participle - 2. Simple Past

Now, we have to form sentences using the timeline examples. Past perfect is formed by:

After + Subject + Aux. Had + Past participle (Verb) + , + Subject + Past simple (verb) + Complement

 Before + Subject + Past simple (verb) + , + Subject + Aux. Had + Past participle (Verb) + Complement

Examples.

1. After I had woken up, I had breakfast. or Before I had breakfast, I had woken up.
2. After I had had breakfast, I took the bus. or Before I took the bus, I had had breakfast.
3. After I had taken the bus, I arrived to the University. or Before I arrived to the University, I had taken the bus.
4. After had arrived to the University, english class started. or Before english class started, I had arrived to the Univeristy.