- •Parts of speech
- •The noun General Characteristic
- •The Grammatical Category of Number
- •The Pronunciation
- •The Spelling/Formation
- •Nouns Used only in the Singular
- •Nouns Used only in the Plural
- •Collective nouns
- •The Category of Case
- •The Formation
- •The Pronunciation
- •V. Articles with Nouns in the Possessive Case
- •The adjective General Characteristic
- •Degrees of Comparison
- •Formation
- •Comparative Constructions
- •The adverb General Characteristic
- •Formation
- •II. Degrees of Comparison
- •Some, any, no, none
- •(A) few, (a) little
- •Much, many, a lot of, lots of, plenty of, etc.
- •The verb General Characteristic
- •Present tenses
- •The Present Indefinite (Simple)
- •I. The Formation:
- •II. Spelling of the third person singular forms.
- •III. The Meaning:
- •IV. The Use of the Present Indefinite
- •The Present Indefinite is used to denote future actions
- •The Present Indefinite is used to denote past actions:
- •The Present Continuous (Progressive)
- •I. The Formation.
- •II. Spelling of the –ing forms.
- •III. The Use of Present Continuous.
- •IV. Verbs Not Used in the Continuous Forms.
- •V. The Present Continuous vs. The Present Indefinite.
- •The Present Perfect
- •I. The Formation
- •III. Patterns
- •IV. Time Indication
- •V. The Present Perfect vs. The Past Indefinite
- •VI. The Past Indefinite and the Present Perfect as Variants
- •The Present Perfect Continuous
- •I. The Formation
- •II. The Use of the Present Perfect Continuous
- •III. The Present Perfect Continuous vs. The Present Perfect
- •IV. The Present Perfect Continuous and the Present Perfect as Variants
- •Past tenses
- •The Past Indefinite Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •The Past Continuous Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •III. The Past Continuous vs. The Past Indefinite
- •The Past Perfect Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •III. The Past Perfect vs. The Past Indefinite
- •The Past Perfect Continuous
- •I. The Formation
- •III. The Past Perfect Inclusive vs. The Past Perfect Continuous Inclusive
- •Future tenses
- •The Future Indefinite Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •III. ''Will'' as a modal verb
- •IV. ''Shall'' as a modal verb
- •The Future Continuous Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •The Future Perfect Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •The Future Perfect Continuous Tense
- •I. The Formation
- •Around the future
- •Reported speech
- •I. Statements
- •II. General Questions
- •III. Special Questions
- •IV. Short Answers
- •V. Commands and Requests
- •VI. Suggestions
- •VII. Advice
- •VIII. Offers
- •IX. Responses
- •Sequence of tenses
- •Modal Verbs in Indirect Speech
- •Question tags
- •I. Formation.
- •II. Agreeing and disagreeing with question tags
- •III. Echo tags
- •The imperative mood
- •I. Formation
- •II. Imperatives with 'let'
IV. Short Answers
Direct Speech |
Indirect Speech |
Frank: Has it stopped raining yet? Polly: Yes. |
Frank asks Polly if it has stopped raining and she says it has. |
Frank: Does John ever come to see you? Polly: Yes. |
Frank asks Polly if John ever comes to see her and Polly says he does not. |
Frank: Are you very tired? Polly: No. |
Frank asks Polly if she is tired and she answers she is not. |
Note 4: To render short answers in indirect speech one may say he answered in the negative or in the affirmative or repeat a part of the answer using the pronoun and the auxiliary or the notional verb.
V. Commands and Requests
Direct Speech |
Indirect Speech |
The doctor says to the patient: “Take this medicine twice a day.” |
The doctor tells the patient to take the medicine twice a day. |
The teacher says to the students: “Don't talk in class.” |
The teacher tells the students not to talk in class. |
The boy says to his friend: “Please, don't be angry with me.” |
The boy begs his friend not to be angry with him. |
Betty says to her friend: “Do stay with us a little longer.” |
Betty begs her friend to stay with them a little longer. |
The child sobs clinging to his mother: “Oh, don't send me away from home.” |
The boy entreats his mother not to send him away from home. |
The group leader tells the children: “Don't make a fire in the wood.” |
The leader orders the boys not to make a fire in the wood. |
Peter says to Mary: “Would you mind ringing me up at nine?” |
Peter asks Mary to ring him up at nine. |
The conductor: “All fares, please.” |
The conductor requests the passengers to pay their fares. |
Note 5: Indirect orders are introduced by the verbs to tell, to order, to command. Indirect requests are introduced by the verbs to ask, to tell, to beg and to request (more official). With highly emotional requests the verbs to implore and to entreat are used.
VI. Suggestions
Direct Speech |
Indirect Speech |
|
Mike: Let us walk home. Mike: What about walking home? Mike: What do you say to walking home? Mike: Why don't we walk home?
|
Mike suggests |
walking home. |
Note 6: The pattern “suggest doing...”is used when the speaker proposes doing somehing together with the person he is addressing.
VII. Advice
Direct Speech |
Indirect Speech |
Mike to Mary: You had better stay behind and look after the kids. |
Mike advises Mary to stay behind and look after the kids. |
Make: Let Mary stay behind and look after the kids. |
Mike suggests that Mary (should) stay behind and look after the kids. |