Reported Speech: A Comprehensive Guide to Tense Changes and Transformations
Reported Speech: Tense Changes and Transformations
Basic Tense Changes
- Present Simple/Past Simple:
“Marta doesn’t feed cats every night.” becomes “Cats weren’t fed by Marta every night.” - Present Continuous/Past Continuous:
“I am not designing a new website now.” becomes “A new website wasn’t being designed now.” - Past Simple/Past Perfect (Had + V3):
“Carol didn’t send postcards last Christmas.” becomes “Postcards hadn’t been sent by Carol last Christmas.” - Present Perfect/Past Perfect:
“The owners haven’t modified the contract.” becomes “The contract hadn’t been modified (by the owners).”
Modal Verbs
- “She shouldn’t forget this conversation.” becomes “This conversation shouldn’t be forgotten.”
Causative Verbs
- “Someone is repairing my TV right now.” becomes “I am getting my TV repaired right now.”
- “The optician checked my sight last month.” becomes “I had my sight checked last month.”
Impersonal Constructions
- “It is important to study English.” becomes “It is said that studying English is important.”
Magic Box Transformations
- Present → To + Infinitive:
“It is easy to learn English.” becomes “It is said to be easy to learn English.” - Past Simple → To + Have + V3:
“They built a new school.” becomes “A new school is said to have been built.” - Present Continuous → To + Be + ing:
“She is working on a project.” becomes “She is said to be working on a project.” - Past Continuous → To + Have Been + ing:
“They were playing football.” becomes “They were said to have been playing football.”
Conditional Sentences
Zero Conditional
If I work too much, I cry. (If + Present + Present)
First Conditional
If it rains today, I’ll stay at home. (If + Present + Will + Infinitive)
Second Conditional
If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world. (If + Past Simple + Would + Infinitive)
Third Conditional
If I had passed my driving test, I would have bought a car. (If + Past Perfect + Would Have + Participle)
Wish
- Present Situation/Past Simple:
“I wish I saw Bea more often.” - Past Simple/Past Perfect:
“I wish / If only I had bought the ticket earlier.” - 3rd Person (Annoying Now!):
“My neighbour is really loud. I wish he wouldn’t shout so much!” (Would + Infinitive)
Modals
- Simple Modal + Infinitive:
“You can speak English.” - Perfect Modal + Have + Participle:
“You should have studied harder.”
Phrasal Verbs
A comprehensive list of phrasal verbs with their meanings is provided, including examples such as “ask out,” “back up,” “break up,” “bring about,” and many more.