Unless Conditional clauses can begin with unless. Unless means something similar to ‘if … not’ or ‘except if’. The verb forms in the examples are similar to sentences with if: we use the present simple in the unless-clause and shall, should, will, would, can, could, may or might in the main clause: Unless I phone…
What is ideal or desired We use should most commonly to talk about what is the ideal or best thing to do in a situation: There should be more public hospitals. They should reduce the price of petrol. It’s so expensive. There should be four more candles on the cake. We use should have +…
Countable nouns are the names of separate objects, people, ideas etc which can be counted. They have plurals. Examples are: dog, tree, girl, book, occasion and link We can use numbers and the article a/an with countable nouns. a dog two books three girls
The articles a/an (the indefinite article) and the (the definite article) belong to a group of words called determiners. They normally go at the beginning of noun phrases. Alice is a financial advisor. She is working for an insurance company. I have been to the doctor. Can I talk to the manager? What are articles…
Reporting verb is the verb which reports the speech. She said, „I am fine.“ (Reporting verb: said) He asked, „Can I have more of that cheese?“ (Reporting verb: asked) She says, „I am going.“ (Reporting verb: says)
Words showing nearness in direct speech are normally changed into words showing distance in indirect speech. The most common changes are given below.
To report a promise, hope or intention we use an appropriate reporting verb followed by a that-clause or a to-infinitive.
To report orders, requests and suggestions, we normally use a reporting verb like tell with (object) + to infinitive.
In reported questions the subject normally comes before the verb. It is not necessary to use do or did. Question marks are not used in reported questions.
When the reporting verb is in the past tense, all present tenses within the inverted commas are changed into the corresponding past tenses. Simple present will change into simple past. She said, „I am fine.“ She said that she was fine.